Sweet Melodies
by blaineisthehugestcockslut
Summary: AU!Puckurt. Noah Puckerman is the newest teacher at McKinley High School, and Kurt Hummel can't help but be a little more than just enchanted by him. Will love thrive between them, or will it be the biggest strikeout Kurt has made in his life?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One - The Beginning of the End**_

Kurt Hummel walked into his sixth period class, unsure of what to expect. Mrs. Dubois, the woman who had been his teacher, had fallen down the stairs and broke her back in the process. Kurt couldn't say he didn't exactly expect that after practically falling down three flights of stairs continuously, but he was still shocked when he walked into his advanced guitar class to find students huddled in groups and looking upset with a sub in the front of the room sleeping. Mrs. Dubois was one of the most loved teachers in the building, and it was unclear for a good day or two if she had survived the tumble. After news broke that she would be out for the rest of the term, Kurt could only sigh and frown. This was his senior year, and he had had Mrs. Dubois for the last three years for guitar courses. Not to mention, she was the sponsor of the glee club. To say he was attached to the teacher was an understatement.

And now here he was, after two weeks of ten different substitute teachers sitting in to watch them scroll through their phones, pop their gum, and listen to their iPods, to find a new teacher sitting in the desk. Mrs. Dubois' desk, Kurt thought bitterly before making his way to his regular seat closest to the mini recording studio the school had put in two years ago when the glee club had made it to Nationals. He looked over at the new teacher, and couldn't help but stop in his tracks and take in a sharp breath.

He was gorgeous, Kurt thought immediately. He looked no older than the student teachers in the school coming from Lima College and Ohio University, and Kurt couldn't help but wonder if he was even certified to be in charge of so many students at once, none the less teach them. Taking him in slowly, he noted how smooth and sun kissed his caramel skin seemed to be, how strong his jaw line was, and how broad his shoulders were. He noticed how the mohawk he had cut his hair into and the clothes he wore should have clashed, but strangely didn't (they even somehow complimented each other, but Kurt would never admit to it out loud). What he didn't notice was the bell ringing, and the teacher coming up to him.

"Erm... Mister?"

Kurt blinked rapidly, and realized that the young teacher was in front of him and frowning slightly. Kurt just kept the frown on his face.

"Hummel. Kurt Hummel," Kurt introduced himself, and the teacher nodded.

"Mr. Hummel, please take a seat," The man said, and Kurt fought the urge to shudder from his voice. It was smooth and hearty, with a bit of a rasp adding a sultry affect to it. He just nodded and quickly sat down in his usual spot, watching as the teacher walk back up to the board before writing his name on the board. The clean and sharp letters read 'Noah Puckerman', with an e-mail address beneath it. Kurt quickly raised an eyebrow, and realized he was right. The e-mail address (.edu) instantly told everyone in the room that he was, indeed, a student teacher. Everyone at that point started to talk and comment, and Mr... Puckerman stood at front looking slightly amused.

"Right, well. Since you guys are being rude and sh- stuff," The man said, catching himself from cursing, "My name's Noah Puckerman. I'm a senior at Ohio State, working on my B.A. in music and working up to complete the secondary education program there. I'm twenty, and obviously, since your principal hired me for this job, can play the guitar. I looked through the syllabus you lot have for the year, and it won't be changing. There will be some slight adjustments and tweaks, but it'll still be what you were expecting in this class. Remember, I am just twenty. For Gods sake, calling me Noah will suffice in here. Calling me Mr. P works too. Mr. Puckerman is my father, who isn't the greatest guy out there. Questions?"

Everyone was suddenly very interested in this young substitute, and Kurt couldn't blame them. Something about him stood out, maybe from the way he was tugging at his tie nervously, or how he ran his hand through his mohawk. It was quiet for a minute, before people nodded.

"Alright, cool. I understand you guys were left with a project you were working on with Ms. Dubois before she had her accident. Anyone want to explain it?" Noah said, sitting on the desk Indian style. Several hands went up, and Noah just looked confused.

"Oh right, you guys still do this crap here. All right. From now on, unless it's like twenty hands up or whatever, first person who says something can go ahead. Don't be as- Just don't be jerks about this or I will make you guys raise your hands like first graders," Noah mumbled, running his hand through his mohawk. Everyone turned to look at their neighbor, grinning slightly. Kurt couldn't help but have a grin on his own face. Noah seemed pretty... Alright for a student teacher. And attractive. Very attractive. Kurt pursed his lips at that comment, and sighed in his mind. He couldn't be crushing on his new teacher, especially this one. He didn't need people commenting on how the local fag was trying to make the new teacher run for the hills.

A small voice spoke up from the back, and everyone instantly turned to look. It was Rachel Berry, with a slip in her hand.

"Excuse me, Mr. Puckerman," the girl asked, looking around at the class before directing her eyes to the man sitting on the desk, "Mr. Figgins told me you were willing to sponsor the glee club in light of Mrs. Dubois' leave of absence."

Kurt looked at the new teacher, this time swallowing. Something about the idea of Noah showing them new dance moves, his shirt riding up to expose flashes of hips and stomachs, made Kurt lick his lips. The singer nearly groaned. Here he was, panting over his new guitar teacher, who was also taking up glee club. The universe just did not like him.

"Ah yes, Ms. Berry, correct?" Noah said hesitantly, and Kurt could already tell Rachel had bugged the poor man before this.

"Yes Mr. Puckerman." The singer beamed, and Noah got up from his spot on the desk. He went to go rummage in his desk, before lifting a folder out of one of drawers. He then proceeded to look on the desk, squinting his eyes slightly, before grabbing a glasses case and taking out what Kurt could only describe as vintage spectacles that would have looked ridiculous on anyone else. He soon found that the glasses only managed to make Noah Puckerman all the more hot. Damn those things. Kurt watched as he scanned through some of the papers in the folders, before closing it and placing it back onto the desk.

"Mrs. Dubois left me instructions to talk to Mr. Hummel first, and then handle all other inquiries on Thursday, when we meet," Noah said, and Rachel could only glare at Kurt. Kurt could only glare at the recording studio booth, wondering why the universe hated him.

"Right, well, I'll be off then."

Rachel disappeared from the room, back to whichever class she had disrupted to only leave. The next thirty minutes drawled out, with the project having been explain to Noah immediately by Blaine Anderson, the only junior in the class. Noah could only whistle at it, and comment on how he could have wished they had had the equipment necessary for this project back when he attended McKinley a few years back. The project was basically everyone composing a CD of six songs, three that they selected from a repertoire Mrs. Dubois had handpicked specially for them, and three more original pieces. They then had to come up with three group accompaniments. They had a choice of doing all three with the whole class, all three in groups of three, or a combination.

The rest of class was spent with Noah encouraging everyone, commenting on how this note would have sounded better, how if you took one harmony down a half step and the other up a half step it would sound all the more incredible, or how to shape your hands so you wouldn't tire from playing the same three chords again and again when recording. Kurt couldn't help but admire the way he took a full hands on approach with everyone (and how his ass looked in those slacks). It wasn't until the bell rang, signaling the start of seventh period, Kurt's lunch period, that he remembered that he was supposed to sit down and actually talk to the guy.

"Mr. Hummel?" Noah had called out when he noted Kurt walking out the door, and Kurt slumped his shoulders in defeat before straightening up and walking back in.

"Right. Well, um, just have a seat there. Mrs. Dubois left me some of the plans she had for glee club, and knew you were the best to handle them," Noah said, and Kurt nodded. He noticed Noah wasn't one to wander about, but instead someone who got straight to the point as quick as possible. Kurt sat down in a chair next to the teacher's desk, where he quickly noticed a carton of Chinese take out. The college senior soon noticed that Kurt had seen the food, and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry about that, I hope you don't mind if I eat during this. Mrs. Dubois' only lunch period is third period and this one. I was stuck in a faculty meeting this morning, so now was the most reasonable," Noah explained as he went through the bag, and pulled out a fork and napkins.

"Well, so long as I can eat my own lunch," Kurt said with a shrug, before reaching into his bag, pulling out a Tupperware container with a salad that Kurt had mixed up that same morning. Noah just nodded.

"Yeah, no big deal. Anyways. So, Mrs. Dubois' told me you're the co-captain of the club along with Rachel, and that I might want you to explain some of the dynamics of the club first. After that, she wants you to explain Sectionals and everything else to me. It's been years since I was in a show choir," Noah admitted, before dumping some rice into a dish of orange chicken. Kurt nodded.

"Of course. Well, you met Rachel already and might already have noticed some her... Less noble qualities. She's a bit of an attention whore, but she's got a voice that gives her some form of back up for that. It still annoys the living hell out of everyone, including me, but you come to love her after a while," Kurt explained while picking at his salad, and looked up to see Noah grinning.

"Do you actually talk to Mrs. Dubois like that? Man, she's managed to replaced me," Noah said with a laugh, and Kurt could only join in on the laughter.

"How else do you think Rachel didn't kill me when Mrs. Dubois named me co-captain," Kurt asked, and Noah just shook his head.

"She seems like a piece of work... But nothing too dangerous," Noah said, and Kurt silently agreed with him.

The two ended up talking for the next hour, and it wasn't until Noah looked at his watch that he realized it was the middle of eighth period.

"Awh, crap," He mumbled under his breath before throwing away his trash, and reaching into his pocket. Kurt then chose to look at his phone, and nearly kicked something. How he had managed to miss the end of seventh period and late bell for eighth period was beyond him. He quickly put his things way, and took one last sip from his water bottle before tossing it in the recycling bin.

"Erm, Kurt, what do you have right now?" Noah asked as he wrote on the pack of green passes he had produced just a moment ago, and Kurt just sighed.

"Genetics at the current moment," Kurt replied, and Noah just raised an eyebrow.

"Did you guys get a huge grant while I was gone? I was looking at all the courses offered now and half of them didn't even exist when I went here," Noah said, confused. Kurt just laughed.

"Figgins realized he should probably have more electives focusing on science. That and the school board was already fed up with the poor test scores, so this has placated them for now. He implemented a requirement of at least one elective science course to graduate, and everyone is too busy complaining about it to realize it really isn't required by the state, so they can graduate without it," Kurt said with a shrug, and the mohawked teacher just laughed.

"Same old McKinley," He said with a small laugh, which instantly made Kurt want to just kiss him. Close to blushing from his more... Naughty thoughts about the teacher, Kurt took the slip he signed for him quickly.

"Well, thanks Noah. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Kurt said in a rush, before practically running out of the room. He closed the door after him, and slowed down as he made his way towards the science hallway where a lot of the new electives were in. Shaking his head, he couldn't believe he was crushing on his new teacher.

He's only twenty, a small voice in his head reminded him. And he's very, very attractive, the same voice said, and Kurt could only groan.

"Shut up," He growled out quietly, and instantly putting his hand to his mouth when he realized he had said it out loud. Shaking his head, he wondered just how terrible the next few days would get. He brightened up at the prospects of glee though. Maybe he would just get used to being around the man, and would eventually get over the crush like he did with Finn. But then again, it took their parents marrying and Kurt being humiliated multiple times to get over him.

Walking into his class, he handed the late slip to his teacher, and immediately began to copy down the notes in front of him on the projector. The one good thing about this class was that he was immediately engulfed in the topics of X inactivation and Calico cats to even try to think about anything else.

* * *

><p>"White boy, you best make Rachel shut to the up, because if you don't, I'll make her," Mercedes said as soon as Kurt linked his arms with hers. Kurt frowned.<p>

"Did she say something against tots again?" Kurt asked, and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Kurt, sweetie, no, I'm being serious right now. All she can do is talk about how cute that new teacher is, and how she just has to duet with him sometime. Something about Jews stick together," Mercedes said airily, and Kurt stiffened a bit.

"Leave it to Rachel to make our new sponsor run for the next available bus ticket out of here," Kurt commented, and Mercedes shook her head in agreement.

"Honestly, all that bull shit she had with Finn and Jesse St. James before the asshole transferred out was tiring. And now this? Why she had to choose senior year, of all years, to be an idiot is beyond me," Mercedes ranted, and Kurt couldn't help but chuckle.

"Dear, calm down, wrinkles don't suit anyone at this age, not even you." Kurt turned to his locker, and Mercedes leaned against the one next to his.

"Do we even have to mention the Blainchel fiasco last year?" Mercedes deadpanned, and Kurt just sighed as he messed up his locker combination.

"I'm not saying Rachel isn't a total attention diva. But, I'm just hoping she's got enough sense now that she knows better than to pursue a teacher," Kurt mumbled as he tried for the third time to open his locker, thinking to himself how he right he was. And exactly why he should just get Noah Puckerman out of his head.

"True... Let's hope," Mercedes said, leaving it at that, just as Kurt was opening his locker. Reaching in for his hair spray, he checked his reflection before spritzing just a tiny bit into his hair. He could get through. He had one more year before he left this wretched town, hopefully by attending NYADA and rooming with Rachel (no matter how much he claimed he hated the girl, he really did love her). Just six more months... Right?

* * *

><p>And that's the first chapter! I know the story's pace right now seems a bit slow, but it'll pick up after this chapter, I promise. As always with my latest fics, Lizzy, aka givemesomenasonexyouswine gave me this prompt. I was supposed to just write her angry teacher!puckurt sex, but I did want to do a multi-chapter Puckurt fic eventually, and this seemed too good to be true. So for those of you looking for porn. I apologize so badly, I hate when I see something and I'm like GOD YES PORN... And then. No porn. The smutty goodness will come, but I wanted to actually give this story a backdrop. Anyways, thanks for reading... And yeah. Look out for an update soon. Also. I don't own Glee. RIB does. My name doesn't even start with an R. Or B. Or I.<p>

Lorri


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two - The Next Chick Barbie**_

Kurt looked around the room with a bored expression. Rachel was up front commanding attention from everyone while she talked about Sectionals, and how they should do another original song. Noah was sitting in the corner, his legs spread out and his elbows resting on them. He supported his head with his hands, and looked currently to be debating between shutting the girl up and just running out of the room. Mercedes was texting Sam, Finn was watching Rachel with a tired expression, Blaine was doing his Pre-Calculus homework, and Santana was... Doing something under Brittany's skirt, while Mike and Tina talked in hushed voices behind them, obviously ignoring the two Cheerio's.

"And so, that is why we should write our own songs. I know my song, My Headband, wasn't particularly effective in bringing out the passion and drive in your spirits last year, but rest assured! My newest song, My Loafers, will be as magnificent. Maybe even better than My Headband," Rachel chirped, before nodding her head at Brad. Brad just looked at her with the look he specially reserved for when Rachel Berry had entered the over the top ridiculous zone. Shaking his head, he began to play the first few notes.

Kurt's eyes bugged out when he realized she was, honest to goodness, about to sing a song devoted to her damn loafers. Her shoes for Pete's sake. And they weren't even that attractive to begin with, he thought to himself as he cleared his throat.

"Brad. Brad, just stop," Kurt said as he stood up, and Brad just looked at the teenager with appreciation before resting his hands on top of the wrist rest on the piano. Rachel twirled in place, her mouth still open in apprehension of the twinkle of notes that would have introduced her solo in the song.

"Kurt, stop being so rude! Look, we need to start somewhere for Sectionals and-" Rachel said, raising her hands as if she had a whole list of things to say to tick off from her fingers. Kurt shook his head.

"You're singing a song. About your shoes. Rachel. Let me repeat myself. A song. About your shoes," Kurt said, and Rachel bit her lip. She instantly deflated, and sighed.

"You know what, I don't even care anymore!" She said with a huff, sitting down next to Noah and crossing her arms against her chest. Kurt snorted.

"Then don't expect to be able to have any input be valued or for us to honor your wishes for a solo," Kurt snapped, before looking at everyone in front of him. They seemed to perk up; Santana even paused her administrations in Brittany's skirt.

"Ok, since you guys are obviously not going to do anything today, let's just come to class tomorrow with suggestions for songs and then we'll pick out solos?" Kurt said, his voice rising higher at the end so people would know it was up for discussion. Everyone nodded.

"Alright. Great... So," Kurt said lamely, not knowing what to do now. That was obviously Noah's cue, and he got up.

"What Kurt said. Come on guys, you're all superly talented. A lot of you guys are seniors- Make your senior year the best, right?" Noah grinned out, and Kurt couldn't help but linger over the seniors part. He was out of here in six months. Six months. Seniors graduated earlier than the other students, in the middle of May. God, he was glad he was getting out of Lima after this. Shaking his head slightly, he tuned in back to the conversation. Gathering his bag, he stood up and looked out the window. It was snowing gently, the Ohio winter treating Lima a lot better than it had with other towns, which had been snowed in.

Splaying his hand over the cold window pane, he watched the area around his fingertips start to fog up in a spiny pattern and freeze in place. He noticed just how slightly off color his skin was from the snow falling, and pressed his face closer and closer to the glass, until he finally bumped his nose into it. Immediately putting his hands over his nose, he sighed and stepped down from the chair he had stood up on to get the beautiful view of the outdoors.

"You should be more careful Kurt," Brittany said as she watched her favorite dolphin hurt his nose. If he got that hurt, how would he communicate with other dolphins, she thought to herself.

Kurt just smiled at the girl.

"I will be Britt. See you later in Home Ec?" Kurt asked, and Brittany frowned.

"I don't know. We might be using eggs today and I don't want to kill any baby chickens since it's really bad. Like, that little chick could have become president of all the farms. Or they could have become the next Chick Barbie. It's not fair Kurt," Brittany explained, her frown getting more and more severe as she thought more about the little chickens she thought she was dooming to death. Santana sighed and picked up Brittany's bag.

"Britt, come on. You'll just come to Study Hall with me and gay baby face over here will just try to not kill any baby chicks. Right?" Santana glared at Kurt, and Kurt just nodded his head.

"Don't worry Brittany, the baby chicks are safe," Kurt told her, and Brittany instantly shot straight up with a grin.

"Oh, thank you Kurt!" She exclaimed before grabbing his face and kissing him. Santana snickered while Kurt blanched in the corner after Brittany let go of him (and dislodged her tongue from his throat).

"That's how I say thank you to Santana," Brittany said with a frown. "But you don't look happy like her. Would it help if I skipped pinching your nipples and just got on my knees?"

Santana then flinched.

"Britt, come on," the Latina said as she took Brittany's arm to prevent her from getting on her knees in front of Kurt.

"Bye Kurt!" Brittany called out airily as she was dragged out of the room by her girlfriend, waving her hand wildly behind her. Kurt could only just stand there, a bit confused at to what had just happened. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he stumbled forward.

"Whoa, sorry bro. Just me, Finn."

Kurt looked at his step-brother, and sighed.

"What is it Finn?" He asked, rubbing his temple. He swore, if he asked for the damn Navigator one more time for his and Rachel's little road trip to who knows where...

"Dude, um. You're kinda in the way," Finn said, rubbing his hand on the back of his head. Kurt wasn't amused.

"You could have gone around the piano Finn," Kurt pointed out to the taller boy, and Finn shrugged.

"I mean. I guess."

Rolling his eyes, he sidestepped himself so that Finn could pass by. He saw Noah out of the corner of his eye, and saw that he was holding back laughter. Straightening up, he turned to him with his best bitch face.

"And what is it that you find so funny?" Kurt asked, and Noah just coughed into his fist and took a few deep breaths.

"Oh. Nothing. Just. You know That fact that you just totally bitched Rachel and that Brittany got on her- Oh God," Noah started to say before cracking up. Kurt wanted to ignore him and just leave, but he found himself laughing too. They both laughed for a few minutes, even through the late bell signaling the start of the next class. Once the laughter had died into a giggling, Kurt tried to stand up straight from the doubled over position he had come to get familiar with during his laughing fit.

Unfortunately, his whole side yelled at him, and it caused him to laugh even more. Soon, Noah was laughing again, and it was like a cycle. The littlest thing would tip them off, making them go back into a laughter frenzy. It wasn't until halfway through the period that Noah started to calm down, with Kurt sitting in a chair trying not to laugh. He kept snorting into his hand, and Noah kept gasping for air.

"You suck," he groaned out once he had calmed down, clutching his side. Kurt could only roll his eyes.

"You suck. I bet I'll somehow end up bruising from that stupid laughing fit you made me have," Kurt replied, prodding at his side gently. Oh yeah. There would be bruising, he thought to himself.

"Not my fault you're like a porcelain doll," Noah mumbled, and Kurt sighed.

"Oh shut up," He said, and got up.

"Well, at much fun as that was, I should have been in AP Calc thirty minutes ago," Kurt noted, and Noah looked up at the clock.

"Shit," was all he said before dragging his feet to his desk.

"You wanna go for the last fifteen minutes or did you just wanna hang here?" Noah asked, getting out a pad of green passes. Kurt bit his lip. He really shouldn't stay, he reasoned himself. But, he also reasoned with himself that it would be ridiculous to show up to class for only ten minutes.

"I'll just stay in here if you don't mind. I've been meaning to work on a song anyways," Kurt said in a rush, and Noah looked up from his desk.

"Really? Great, I'm curious now," he said with a grin, and Kurt just rolled his eyes.

"Shut it Puckerman," Kurt warned, and Noah just smirked.

"You know I can give you detention right?" Noah said, and Kurt turned from him, a million thoughts going through his mind. Noah punishing him, in this very room. Ripping all his clothes off and pushing him to his knees. Kurt sucking on his cock before he was finally bent over the desk and thoroughly fucked. Blushing, he quickly pushed these thoughts out of his mind before he could get awkwardly hard. He merely shrugged in response, which gained a laugh from the university student. Kurt could only glare down at the floor as he made his way over to the piano.

"So, what's this number for?" Noah asked, and Kurt shrugged.

"Just something I wanted to practice. I knew that Ms. Dubois wanted us to do a free week with Christmas songs before we broke for the holidays. I was thinking next week would be good?" Kurt explained as he settled down on the piano, his fingers brushing against the cold, hard keys.

"Oh, yeah. Sure. That actually sounds better than what I was going to do," Noah said with a sheepish smile. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"What were you planning on doing?"

"Have you guys sing about your feelings?"

Kurt could only laugh.

"Four for you," He said, and Noah quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm no Glenn Coco," He said with an exasperated sigh. Kurt instantly looked up.

"You. And. Mean Girls. And," Kurt sputtered. Most people hadn't seen Mean Girls, or didn't care much for the brilliant writing and comedy in it. Sometimes Mercedes would pretend to get his little comments, but most times she'd end up just sighing and calling him white boy while explaining how she's never seen the movie and doesn't plan to soon.

Noah just shrugged. "If you haven't seen the movie and can't quote at least one small sentence, then your life is just. Just. No."

Kurt nodded his agreement.

"Thank you, someone who finally understands," he said under his breath before flipping through some of the sheet music Brad had left when he had gone for lunch this period. Leafing through them carefully, he almost completely missed what he had been looking for in the jumbled mess of notes, staffs, and bar lines. Picking them out carefully as to not disturb Brad's organization, he nearly fell on the floor when Noah started to talk.

"Do You Hear What I hear? Don't you need at least two people for this?" Noah asked, looking at the sheet music. Kurt glared at him.

"Way to give me a heart attack. And yes, I do. I've been trying to have Finn sing them with me for days, but he's scared that Rachel will get upset or something over him not doing a duet with her, and he can so not learn more than one duet at a time and a group number" Kurt said, straightening the sheets of paper before laying them out on the music stand built in to the piano. Tapping his foot, his fingers began to move across the keys, playing out the first few measures of the song.

_Said the night wind to the little lamb_

_Do you hear what I hear_

Kurt sang out, his pitch perfect. Noah raised an eyebrow at the note Kurt had managed to hit on the first try, before joining in himself with his much lower voice, harmonizing with the much higher and melodic soprano part.

_Way up in the sky little lamb_

_Do you see what I see_

Kurt's voice wavered slightly when Noah joined him, but he quickly recovered himself and worked his way through the whole song. Noah's voice blended with his perfectly, he noticed. His fingers hovered over the keys, pushing down gently when necessary. It wasn't until the end of the song that he noticed just how close Noah was to him. He was practically laying his head on his shoulder from trying to read the sheet music, and when the song ended, he didn't move.

Kurt panicked, and didn't know what to do. He could smell Noah all around him; it was a nice wood like smell, with a hint of what Kurt could only think was mint. His somewhat stubbly chin scratched against his neck and face, and he could have sworn he could have felt a light pressure on his neck from where Noah's lips should have been. After a few moments of silence, Noah cleared his throat and took a few steps back.

"That was great Kurt. Um, I'd be happy to do this with you on Monday next week," Noah said as he made his way back to the desk, and Kurt just nodded.

"Right. Thank you. I'll just.. Head to my next lesson now," Kurt mumbled, not even bothering to wave goodbye to Noah as he walked out of the room, wondering what in the hell just happened. He didn't even notice Rachel hiding behind her locker when he rushed out to get to his AP Lang class. Nor did he notice the look of shock on her face either.

* * *

><p>Rachel came out from behind her locker, forgetting all about putting up new pictures of her and Finn in the matching sweaters she had bought for them. The cute little matching reindeer on them definitely paled in comparison to what Rachel just saw. Wrinkling her nose, Rachel realized she couldn't quite put a name to what she had just witnessed however.<p>

Her imagination could have just gotten the best of her. For all she knew, the angle she had been standing at when she had meant to walk into the choir room to flirt with the new teacher could have just made it look like Noah had pressed a small kiss to the side of Kurt's neck. Surely, that's what made it seem like he was draped all over him, right?

Rachel could only sigh at her predicament. She was known for being the biggest gossiper in glee club. And this... This was out of this world. Hand coming up to fiddle with the necklace she had chosen to wear that day, Rachel resorted to muttering prayers under her breath as she made her ways through the halls.

It was all in her imagination. Noah couldn't have been flirting with Kurt. He had at the very least a good two and a half years on Kurt, and was already in university. He was a senior in university, and Kurt was a senior in high school. Rachel had only meant to flirt with the new teacher to make Finn pay more attention to her; But what had just happened in that room was more than just flirting.

Shaking her head, she shut her eyes. No, Rachel Barbara Berry, you're just imaging things. Now snap out of it so we can go to World History and not say anything about Noah. Or Kurt.

Nodding at herself in agreement with her own proposal, Rachel smoothed her bangs down, and started to walk down the hallway. In an effort to forget about the whole thing, she began to hum the tune to I Feel Pretty under her breath, and even put a bit of jump into her walk. She sure as hell forget all about what she saw when she had the great fortune of being the target of a grape flavored slushy.

Gritting her teeth, she stood in place to allow the ice and corn syrup to roll off of her body and clothing. That and she couldn't even fathom the thought of moving out of her place. Once she had immediately begun to run for the girls bathroom, but was hit from the side by another slushy. Her outfit had been ruined that day, obviously.

Suddenly, she felt soft hands pull her arm, and she blindly let them lead her into a bathroom. Immediately Rachel heard some angry mumbling and even a small whimper or two, obviously reactions from her current state of dismay. Sniffing, Rachel sat on the bathroom sink counter, reaching blindly for paper towels to get the ice crystals and flavoring our of her eyes. Slushies stung greatly in the eyes, and she always washed the sticky, foul drink out of her eyes first. The same hand that had led her in there handed her a wet paper towel, and Rachel gratefully took it.

Wiping out the slushy from her eyes and face, Rachel finally opened her eyes since the attack. She blinked, and saw Kurt, Mercedes, Quinn, Tina, and Brittany in front of her.

"Girl, you look tore up," Mercedes said under her breath, moving to hand Rachel a change of clothing. Rachel quietly thanked her for the clothes, and looked down at her clothes.

"How ruined do you think they are?" She asked, and Brittany frowned.

"Ruined? I think it's cool tie dye stuff. It's why I never wash my clothes after I spill a slushy on them. It's like free tie dye!" Brittany said, and Tina just patted the girl on the arm.

"Santana went to go find Azimio and Karofsky. I think she said something about razors in her hair," Tina offered, and Brittany sighed.

"Lord Tubbington helped her with her hair this morning. I knew I shouldn't have left them alone in my room." Brittany said with a shrug, and everyone just looked at her for the regular three seconds before shaking their heads slightly and looking away.

"Rachel go change before you get too sticky to save," Kurt said softly, and Rachel just nodded before hopping off the counter and walking into a stall. Locking it behind her, Rachel quickly changed into the fresh clothing, and wiped her skin down with some of the baby wipes Mercedes had kindly given her. Walking out, she held up her shoes with water eyes.

"Kurt. My loafers," She cried out, and Kurt could only smile sadly.

"Good riddance. Another reason why we're not singing My Loafers for Sectionals," Kurt said under his breath before taking the offensive shoes and throwing them in the bin. He quickly produced some sensible small one inch heels for Rachel's new outfit, and Rachel gaped at him.

"Those loafers inspired me for that song!" She argued, moving to pick them out of the garbage. Kurt just shook his head.

"Leave them to die in peace Rachel," Kurt told her, and Rachel could only glare for a moment before grudgingly putting on the heels. She had to admit, she did look nice in them. They added some height to her small frame, making her look even leaner.

"See? Much better," Kurt commented, and Quinn nodded.

"Yeah Rachel... You look. Great," She said, and Rachel blushed slightly.

"Thanks guys," She said, just as the late bell rang. Everyone swore at that.

"Carmichael is going to kick my ass," Quinn hissed as she grabbed her bag. Everyone followed suit and filed out of the bathroom, all of them running in the hopes of getting to their next class without being slapped with a tardy, or even a detention.

Kurt walked quickly in a room across the hall, thankful that his class had only been a few steps away. Giving the teacher his signature smile that led to people giving him what he wanted, he sat in his seat and looked up at the board. As the lesson went on, his hand continuously hovered over the spot on his neck where he could still feel Noah brush his lips up against. He groaned into his hand when class was let out and he still couldn't shake the feelings he had from Noah being so close to him.

I'm doomed, he thought to himself. Six months looked a lot longer now that he thought more and more about it.

* * *

><p>Hey there! This is obviously the second chapter. Whoo. Party. I didn't just post this up and then forget all about it. Like my other story, I'll probably update every two weeks, maybe once around breaks and stressless days. Thanks for all the feedback so far! It's really helped guys. Thanks, and hoped you guys enjoyed reading 3<p>

-Lori


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three - Drunken Men Finding Flaws**_

Brushing his fingers through his mohawk, Noah made a mental note to get the damn thing cut. It was getting longer and longer, and it wasn't like he was aiming to look like a horse any time soon (he had tried something alike to it back in his senior year of high school – not the most attractive look to end his high school career with). Shaking his head, he looked down at the papers in front him. Dubois surely wasn't a slacker when it came to teaching. He had known this since the very first day of school, when he walked past her class admiring the guitars and she had invited him in to try and play during his lunch. Needless to say, he saw his guidance counselor later that day and switched out from Team Sports to Guitar I.

Looking up at the clock, Noah saw that class had been out for almost two hours, and that by now all of the students who weren't in a sport were long gone. Rubbing his temple, he looked at the mess he had in front of him on his desk. It was chaotic organization, but still messy as hell. Dubois would have a heart attack if she saw the state he had her desk in. Chuckling, he started to get his papers together. Sheet music students had asked him to review went into his bag, while blank sheet music made their way back into the folder labeled 'a blank sheet is just a step away from a hit single'. Whistling the tune to 'Set the Fire to the Third Bar' by Snow Patrol, he slowly began to organize the classroom back into pristine shape. Folders went back to their proper cabinets, half finished sheet music went into the 'claim me' basket, and slowly his desk began to look like an actual desk.

Swaying his hips slightly to the slow tune of the song he was singing, Noah finally came across the file his old high school teacher had given him. Inside was a letter from her, a copy of which was given to Figgens explaining she wanted him as her replacement, along with mini biographies of each of the students in New Directions. In total, there were seventeen kids in it. Kurt, Rachel, Finn, Brittany, Mike, Sam, Quinn, Mercedes, and Santana were all seniors. Artie, Tina, and Blaine were juniors. Sugar, Rory, and Collins were sophomores, with Olive and Tilley being the babies of the bunch as freshmen. Noah had raised an eyebrow when he had seen all of the seniors set to be graduating this year, but hell did it raise even further when he saw the relationship chart Ms. Dubois had kindly made for him.

Rachel had been in an off and on relationship with Finn, but had a small fling with Blaine last year that had led to her being 'heart broken' when he came out of the closet. She had been single when Dubois had her fall, but had somehow managed to get together with Finn and break up with him after she realized he really wouldn't come with her to New York post graduation just this week. Finn had [previously slept with Santana and dated Quinn, who called it off when he cheated on her with Rachel. Quinn went on to date Sam, but cheated on him with Finn. Sam then dated Santana, who left him for Brittany, who at the time had been dating Artie. Artie had dated Tina, but they broke up when she became interested in Mike at the beginning of her sophomore year. Brittany and Artie eventually broke up, and she was with Santana. Mercedes was dating a football player, someone who everyone called Bubba (Ms. Dubois admitted she didn't know his real name). Blaine was currently dating Rory, while Collins and Finn apparently were currently slated to go on a date tonight. This left Sam, Quinn, Rachel, Sugar, Olive, and Tilley as single. Interestingly, Kurt had never dated anyone, despite the way his eyes seemed to change colour with his moods, and how soft his skin was...

Groaning, he collected the files together. He couldn't seem to stop thinking about the senior, and knew it was wrong. He was just a kid; sure Noah knew what it felt like to be in his shoes. He felt like an adult, ready to take on the challenges of the real world. But, God, how that had changed once he realized what the real world was like. Looking back, he didn't think the senior version of him could have made it through much of anything past his freshman year of college.

But... Kurt was different, Noah could tell this much for sure. Something about Kurt screamed maturity. and it made Noah all the more curious. Shaking his head, he reminded himself he was a twenty year old senior in university set to graduate this upcoming summer. He needed someone his age, not an about to be barely legal high schooler who probably just thought of him as some rookie teacher who took the job just to help pay the rent and for booze that week.

* * *

><p>Humming to the same song he had been whistling to, Noah put away the files in the filing cabinet Dubois kept for personal records and documents. Turning, he surveyed the room. The chairs were a bit out of place, but his first period tomorrow would be chaotic anyways since they were having the only daycare in Lima come visit them in the morning. Everything else seemed to be in place, with the guitars in their cases, and the recording studio locked. Nothing out of the ordinary on the floor, other than the occasional basket with spare guitar strings and band aids under chairs.<p>

About ready to leave, he grabbed his bag and quickly shrugged on his leather jacket before sloppily knotting his scarf around his neck. With a spring to his step, he was halfway out the door when he remembered that his gloves were in the top desk drawer. Sighing, he made his way back to the desk, and his breath caught in his throat. There was Kurt's senior picture, with him looking off into the ceiling, a pen in hand, writing into a notebook about who knows what.

Swallowing, he averted his eyes and took his gloves out of his desk drawer. Looking at the small wallet sized photo, he was reminded of the duet he and Kurt had done earlier that week. The kids had done an amazing job at their solos and duet's that week, but Kurt had scratched his plan of doing Do You Hear What I Hear to do Let it Snow with Quinn. He remembers his lips ghosting over Kurt's slender neck, how they accidentally brushed up against it when he had moved to get a better view of the sheet music. He shook his head, reminding himself it was nothing. Just a small brush of skin against skin. He hadn't even done it on purpose.

Doesn't mean you didn't want it to be, the nagging voice in his head told him, and he just rolled his eyes at himself.

You'll just put it back tomorrow, he reasoned to himself as he got his keys out, walking out of the door. Nothing too big. Noah locked the door behind him, and quickly put his keys back into his pocket, his hands brushing against the wallet sized photo. Tomorrow, was all he could tell himself in response to the nagging voice in his head.

Driving the short distance to his apartment in the more urbanized side of Lima, he quickly parked his car and walked up the steps leading into his apartment complex. Filled to the brim with college students from Ohio State, Noah waved to his neighbors and called out 'hello's as he hurried to get into his apartment. Somehow, he managed to get inside before any of them could make the now regular jail bait jokes. Ever since he had told his roommate he was working at McKinely, Manuel proceeded to tell the whole floor, which led into basically the whole complex knowing.

Walking in, he shut the door behind him before turning and nearly screamed.

"You're late."

Noah saw Sara sitting on the counter eating a ham and cheese sandwhich, with a cola next to her. He groaned as he threw his keys onto the small table next to the door.

"You didn't tell me you were going to be here squirt," Noah said as he put his bag down, and loosened his tie. Sara just snorted.

"I told you last week I'd be dropping by. Mom's getting too antsy without another teenager in the house to boss around," She reminded him, taking another bite of her sandwich. Noah just looked at her, and she shrugged.

"It's not my fault. I think she missed your teenage rebellion and angst."

Noah could only laugh at that. He had been a handful as a teenager. His father had left the family when he had been seven. Sarah had only been two, and his mother had to work hard to provide for both of them. Being the man of the house had changed him. He worked two jobs through high school, while still being on the football team, and still managing to help out around the house. But, he had been far from the model son. He would stay out late after his shift at work would end, and up coming home smashed after some of the parties Manuel had thrown back in the day when his parents were out of town and Santana was sleeping over at Brittany's. And Noah hadn't been a saint in school either. He had gotten into fights, and ended up becoming the resident badass and bully, mainly from his own insecurities.

He had been in the tenth grade when he realized he was gay.

It wasn't until his senior year of high school that he had finally learned to accept himself. It took him another year, this time as a freshman in college, to break the news to his mother that he would never settle down with the nice Jewish girl she had always expected. Surprisingly, the thing out of her mouth had been, "You're still going to give me grandchildren, right?"

Shaking his head at the memory, he looked up at his little sister.

"How'd you get here before me?" He asked as he made his way into the kitchen to grab himself a water bottle. Sara's face scrunched up.

"Schools been out for three hours now you dunce," was all she said before hopping off the counter. Smoothing her skirt down, she hit her brother upside the head as she made her way to the door.

"Anyways, now that I've checked in on you, I'm going to go scope out some guys," she said as she grabbed her bag, and Noah just sighed.

"Sara, you're still a minor," he called out as he opened his water bottle. Sara shrugged.

"So? Most of these guys are within my age group of legality. Besides, with these curves?" Sara smirked, running her hands along her waist and hips. " They'll become willing outlaws."

"Sara Abigail Puckerman!" Noah yelled out as she quickly closed the door behind her, letting out a quick, "Bye No No, love you, see ya tomorrow for family dinner". And that's when Noah remembered. It was Friday, and that meant the weekly family dinner his mother liked putting on (something she did because she was practically too swamped to pay much attention to them during the week because of her nursing job at Lima General).

Grunting at his younger sister's antics, he made his way around the apartment. Manuel obviously wasn't home yet from his Statistics class, and the absence of loud music playing from his room made Noah welcome the silence. Stretching, he realized he had the apartment to himself for the first time in a while. Before, Sara would always stick around and poke fun at him for working at his old high school, before warning him not to embarrass her in front of the entire student body until Manuel came home. Sara didn't like Manuel mainly because of his younger sister, Santana, so she'd always conveniently have to go home just when he would walk through the door.

Unbuttoning his shirt, he quickly discarded it along with his tie as he made his way into his room. He slipped on a white v-neck t-shirt, before taking off his slacks and kicking off his shoes. Tripping on all the shit he had on the floor, Noah managed to somehow make it out without needing a tetanus booset shot. Grabbing his bag from where he had set it down before, he flung himself down onto the living room couch and flipped the TV channel to mtvU. The sounds of the latest video from Matt & Kim blasted from the speakers, and Noah nodded his head along with the music as he went through all of the assignments people turned in that day.

He had been a bit more than excited when he saw the quality of the work people turned in. Pencil in hand, he went head first into his work for the night. Writing comments here and there, suggesting certain words in place of others, or even pointing out how a single note change could make the piece play much smoother. He hadn't even realized how long he had been working or how immersed he was in it until he heard a small hiss of a can being opened. His head shot straight up.

"Sorry bro, I didn't think you wanted me to interrupt you. You looked like you were in the zone," Manuel said before taking a sip of beer. Noah frowned.

"How long have you been here?" He asked as he began to put the papers away, willing to do rest whenever had time that weekend. Manuel smirked.

"An hour and a half asshole. Jesus, not even Santana's that unobservant, and that's when she and Brittany are practically dry humping on the couch," Manuel teased him, and Noah snorted.

"The only reason she noticed was because Brittany asked if they could have a threesome with me," Noah pointed out, and Manuel waved his hand.

"Details, details," He said before leaning on the wall. "Now, I'm kidnapping you for the night."

Noah raised an eyebrow. Manuel shrugged.

"Andy's bitching that you aren't getting out as much as you used to before you became Mr. Puckerman, and she's kinda right," He said, and Noah glared at his best friend.

"Don't call me Mr. Puckerman. Not even my student's do," Noah mumbled, getting up to stretch and pop his joints. Manuel just chuckled.

"For now, you old fart. Now get the fuck up and go get dressed, because we're going to go get shit faced and get some ass," Manuel said as he walked past his roommate, and before Noah could protest, slapped his ass. He jumped, and nearly lost his footing.

"Ass fuck," Noah called out as he did a small twirl in a successful attempt to not end up on the floor. He heard laughter from Manuel's room.

"I'm the straight one in this twisted platonic relationship, remember?" He called out, and Noah could only snort and shake his head.

"We're still questioning that. San agrees," He shouted back, and he could Manuel just swear under his breath as something heavy dropped.

"Was that your dildo collection Man?" Noah asked, cracking up. The sound of a door opening rang through the apartment, and Manuel came out, his skin a paler version of his usual warm caramel complexion, holding... A dildo?

"Did you let my sister in here?" Manuel asked, holding the sex toy gingerly between two of his fingers. It dangled, the purple colour of it making it seem almost like a children's toy. The set in glitter didn't help either.

"She stopped by last week with some box she said your parents had been trying to get you to take for ages. Something about comic books," Noah said, before looking at the dildo.

"I'm guessing your parents found your stash," He snickered out, and Manuel slapped Noah on the arm with it.

"I am pretty sure these are Santana's collection of... God, it's um their. Ugh. Santana just put Brittany's stash in my room and asked me to dispose of them because they were... Old? Ugh," Manuel sputtered out, before dropping the dildo on the couch. Noah cringed.

"Bro, I do not want that on the couch," He said, pushing his roommate towards the couch so he could get it. Manuel just shook his head and backed out of the room slowly.

"Fuck you if you think I'm touching my sister's... Toys. Oh God, I'm going to kill her," Manuel groaned out before going back into his room. He came back out with a box full of sex toys. Vibrators, dildos, nipple clamps, and even some whipped cream cans were in the box.

"Jesus, your little sister has more of a sex life than you do," Noah said with a whistle, and Manuel just glared at him.

"I'm pretty sure the same goes for you," he said with a shake of his head, and Noah paled.

"Ok, we're done talking about our little sisters having sex," Noah choked out, and Manuel nodded.

"What sex? They're just seniors in high school. They're still playing with the dolls we bought them," Manuel said with a pink tinted face, before rushing back into his room. The box of sex toys sat on the floor, and Noah just kicked it toward the far side of the room.

"Least she has some good taste," He commented when he saw some of the magazines in the box peeking out from the bottom.

"I can't hear you!"

Noah just laughed before walking into his room to put on some actual clothing.

* * *

><p>"Remind me again why you told me you were going to drag me out to get smashed and get some ass, and we're sitting here in the Lima Bean like lame ass high schoolers who don't own fake ID's," Manuel whined as Noah sat down with his peppermint hot chocolate in hand. Andy snickered, and brushed a lock of golden red hair behind her ear. Her knitted beret swayed a bit dangerously off the side of her head, but he could tell it was pinned to Andy's now longer than he remembered hair. Her green eyes twinkled as she continued to smirk.<p>

"I said that so we could get together. If you and Puck want to go get some ass, you can do so later," Andy said before sipping some of her ice mocha latte. Noah could only grin slightly, his high school nickname making him remember all the crazy antics him and Andy had pulled during school.

"Andy when have I ever been the one to go for a random fuck?" Noah said, batting his eyelashes at her. Andy choked a little on her drink.

"In case you don't remember, we hooked quite a few times junior and senior year before we realized we were both such flaming homosexuals that even a gay pride flag would burst into rainbow flames around us, and that the ashes would become glitter," Andy pointed out as she cleaned off some of the coffee from her chin. Manuel just threw his hands up in the air.

"Out of all the kids at McKinley, I became best friends with the two gayest people possible." Manuel shook his head, and Andy shrugged.

"I'm still pretty sure you have bisexual tendencies," She said, balling up a napkin and putting it on the plate in front of her that used to have chocolate chip cookies. Used to being the key phrase, seeing how Manuel and Noah had pounced on them the second she had put the plate down. Manuel warily eyed his two best friends.

"You're both assholes," He decided, turning his attention to his phone before chugging down the rest of his black coffee. Noah leaned back in his chair, and Andy turned her attention to him.

"Anyways, hows taking care of a bunch of teenagers for minimum wage been?" She asked, and Noah shook his head.

"I get paid twenty-five dollars an hour," Noah told her, and Andy, for the second time, choked on her coffee.

"Mother of God," She mumbled as she took more napkins, and glared at Manuel when he began to laugh.

"Twenty-five? Asshole, you're paying the bill next time we go out to eat," Andy grumbled, before taking out her phone. Her eyes widened, and she mumbled swears under her breath.

"Alright, I've gotta head out," She said, slipping her phone back into her pocket and standing up.

"What? Why don't you love me anymore," Manuel cried out, and Andy could only roll her eyes as she tied her scarf around her neck tightly, and slipped on her pea coat jacket. She mumbled something unintelligently, and Noah raised an eyebrow.

"What'd you say?" He asked, and Andy's cheeks took on a slight pink tint.

"IsaidIhaveadatetonight," She rushed out quickly, and Manuel's eyes bugged out.

"Wait, my Andy has a... A date tonight? Oh honey, our baby's all grown up now!" Manuel cried out, holding on to Noah and sniffling. Andy gave him the finger.

"Go suck a dick," She told him, and Manuel frowned.

"I'd rather lick a-"

"Ok, that's enough for today," Noah said, interrupting his friend from finishing his sentence. Customers, by now, were starting to stare at the three college students. A group of old women stared at them, whispering ferociously under their breaths. Noah could have sworn he heard the words 'disgrace' and 'unfortunate' come out of one old womans mouth in response to Andy smacking Manuel on the side of his head.

Noah sighed.

"Andy, go have fun. If it's not too late, swing by the apartment and we'll talk over wine or beer or whatever the hell Manny hasn't finished off," Noah said, exasperated. Andy snorted.

"I'll be over at like eleven," She said before hugging Noah and flicking Manuel on the ear. Manuel whined.

"I don't drink all the time," He pouted out, and Noah looked at him.

"Your younger sister is Santana Lopez. You practically taught her how to hold down her vodka as if it were water," He reminded him, and Manuel grimaced.

"Shhh,there has been too much talk of that little she demon spawn tonight," He said, shuddering as he drank the last of Noah's peppermint hot chocolate.

* * *

><p>In his empty apartment, Noah sat on the couch with his head back, and eyes closed. Manuel's friend had stopped by the cafe, and when he realized Noah was serious about going home after finishing his second mug of hot chocolate, he had gone off to Heat, one of the clubbing bars in Westerville. Noah had opted to just walk through the streets of Lima, watching the snow lightly dust and coat everything in sight. Once the snow started to really pick up though, he quickly made his way back to his apartment.<p>

He heard a few bangs from upstairs, and the ever present buzz of loud electronic music coming from upstairs. He swore he could hear people shouting 'shots shots shots shots', and groaned when he realized he didn't know if Sara had actually made it home, or if she was upstairs (or even down the hall from what it sounded like) partying the night away. Grabbing blindly for his phone, he had managed to knock over the TV remote and Manuel's PSP off the coffee table before finally grabbing a hold of the electronic.

Hitting the key he knew was one, he put the phone up to his ear. The soft pangs of his call being connected almost lulled him to sleep, and he was about to hang up and just text the monkey before a woman's breathy voice answered the phone.

"Noah? Noah, honey! I wasn't expecting you to call tonight."

"Hey ma," Noah said into the phone, clearing his throat out. "I was calling to make sure Sara got home safely."

He could hear some shuffling, and a quiet conversation going on between his mother and whom he assumed was Sara. A few muffled cracks later, and his mother came back on the phone.

"She got back safely. Although, she's got a bruise on her neck, meaning she's grounded."

Instantly he could hear Sara start to complain about how it wasn't fair, and how Noah had come home multiple times with something a lot worse than just a small little hickey on his neck. Noah resisted the urge to snort, before cracking his knuckles, his phone balancing in between his shoulder and ear.

"Ma, she's just a kid," Noah said into the phone softly, and he could hear his mother let out a small indignant noise.

"Fine Sara. But, Noah, please watch your sister whenever she goes over there," his mother said, before adding in a small whisper, "also she smells like marijuana, and while I know she isn't high, I'd prefer her not coming home reeking of it."

Sighing, Noah nodded, before realizing his mother couldn't possibly see him over the phone.

"Uh, yeah sure ma. Don't worry, she's in good hands when she comes over. She eats half of my damn fridge, so we know she's not lacking in that department," Noah said, and his mother laughed.

"I'll see you tomorrow Noah. Love you." Ruth told her son, and Noah did the nodding thing again before remembering, again, he had to be vocal.

"Yeah, see you then ma. Love you too."

They hung up, and Noah looked at the clock. It was nine, and he had another two solid hours before Andy would come around. Picking up his bag, he rummaged through it before he found the papers he hadn't finished earlier, and quickly delved back into his work. Imaginary melodies played in his head as he checked through the sheet music, making small comments and suggestions here and there. A sharp rapping noise made his head immediately snap upwards, and he could hear a familiar voice yelling.

"Puckerman, open up you piece of shit!"

Jumping up, Noah opened the door. Immediately, he was greeted by a flushed Andy, who was currently holding a bottle of Smirnoff Green Apple and Sprite. She walked inside, and sat on the couch. She had long since gotten rid of the hat, and had snow all over her head. Taking off her gloves, she looked up at Noah.

"You know, Manuel says some interesting things when he's shit faced," she said slowly, flinging her gloves towards the general direction of the coat hanger. Her pea coat followed suit, and Noah just shook his head.

"You're telling me," he mumbled, remembering all the nights Manuel would come in from weekend partying drunk as fuck and questioning society and religion and other things that came to mind. So far, Manuel had said he'd prefer Barney to be president than the Republican candidates, and apparently would prefer for his god to be Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony.

"But you say more interesting things in your sleep," Andy added, and Noah's eyebrows quirked up.

"You see, I remember this really pale kid back in grade school. Looked like a freaking porcelain doll. Very cute," Andy began to say, and Noah took a sharp intake of breath. Kurt. She had to be talking about Kurt. This town wasn't big enough for her to be talking about anyone else.

"And apparently you were just moaning Kurt Hummel's name out in your sleep the other day and Manuel totally thinks you're tapping that."

Shit. Fuck. Hell. Fuck. Damn. Did he mention fuck?

Andy looked at him expectantly for a few seconds, before going in to the kitchen. Noah could only sit on the couch, frozen, as she rummaged in the kitchen. He heard a small hiss of the 2 liter soda being opened, and he clinking of glasses together. Her heels slightly clacked against the floor, and soon enough she came back into the room with a pitcher and two small glass cups. She poured the mysterious liquid into the two glasses, and handed him one.

"So, you've only been there, what? A month now, right?" She asked, tipping her glass back against her lips. Noah shrugged.

"About. Fucking Manuel. But, I'm not. You know. Um. Yeah," He rushed out, not being able to say 'fucking Kurt Hummel' seeing how it was something he really wanted to do. Taking the glass full of alcohol, he tipped it back, and instantly the taste of sprite, green apple, and vodka invaded his tastes buds. His throat burned slightly, but he had had stronger alcohol before ; this was merely a throat tickle compared to the heavier stuff. He put it back on the coffee table with a louder bang that he had intended.

Andy could only look at him, studying him. She poured herself more alcohol, and kicked off her shoes before swinging her legs up onto Noah's lap.

"You could do worse," she commented, but she bit her lip. Shaking her head slightly to get her side bangs out of the way of her face, she looked Noah straight in the eye.

"So, nothing serious right?" Andy asked, and Noah shrugged again.

"Like you said, I've only been there a month," He said, and she nodded.

"Good. Now drink up asshole, you're gonna need it. I have yet to tell you how this girl has me totally wrapped around her fingers... Literally."

* * *

><p>This was some what of a filler chapter, so you guys could see this side of Noah's life outside of McKinley. As you can tell, I'm updating this a lot more than I am with Chosen, and that's mainly because Chosen chapters are getting longer and longer. That, and I just seem to be in the mood several times a week to write puckurt haha. Anyways, yeah. I down't own Glee, because if I did it wouldn't be allergic to continuity. Hope you enjoyed it~<p>

-Lori


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter Four - It's a Hard Life_**

Kurt was happy. Not over the moon happy, but he was content. It was the last week of school before their winter break, and it wasn't even a complete week. It was a measly three days, and the third day was optional for seniors seeing how a lot of them were going off to go tour Ohio State. And then he would have a blissful two weeks of no school, along with an empty house. His father and Carole were taking Finn to bunk up with an old friend who was on the football team at OSU, and then going on a mini honeymoon for the holidays, leaving Kurt alone for the holidays.

His father had been adamant on Kurt coming with him and Carole on the cruise, but Kurt pointed out they never had the opportunity for their own honeymoon because of his time at Dalton, and they deserved a honeymoon. Then his father tried to have Finn stay home, and when that failed, tried to get Carole to cajole Kurt to come with them or go with Finn. Luckily, his step mother could tell when they were going to be defeated by Kurt's stubborn streak, and had stepped in, suggesting that they celebrate Christmas the weekend before they left.

Burt had been stubborn at first, but Carole hadn't paid much mind to it; They all knew Kurt would win the battle in the end. Which was why they had their Christmas dinner Saturday, and exchanged presents the following morning. Laughing at the memory of his father giving in, he watched his breath come out as a puff of smoke in the cold, winter air.

Snow collected delicately in his hair and black pea coat as he made his way to the front doors of McKinley, and he was a bit more than surprised to see Olive, Tilley, and Sugar hanging outside.

"Sugar, you don't smoke it like that," Tilley snickered, moving to switch the ends of the cigarette the sophomore had just put in her mouth. Sugar's mouth opened slightly, and her eyes widened.

"No wonder I keep burning myself," She mused out loud, before seeing Kurt. She quickly pulled the cigarette from her mouth, and Kurt just looked at her, mouth in a tight line.

"Kurt you look fabulous and all but you should totally just like bum one with us and not have a stick up your ass," Sugar said, waving her hand in her usual flippant manner. Kurt looked at her with a hard glare, and she lifted her arms up in defeat, and tossed the cigarette in the bin before walking inside. Tilley grinned.

"You're the only one who can shut her Aspergers ass up," Tilley commented, expertly blowing out smoke rings. Kurt grimaced and waved his hand around to make sure he didn't breathe in much of the second hand smoke, and Olive did the same, her face scrunching up.

"Get inside," He said, and Tilley just huffed before she put out her cigarette and headed inside.

"Alright daddy," She called out lamely, before murmuring something about how she wouldn't mind it too much if she could call Kurt daddy. Olive looked at Kurt with a small apologetic smile.

"You know how Tilley is-" She started to say, defending her best friend. Kurt just put his hand up.

"Not judging. Just make sure she's not all out in the open next time? This may be the back entrance, but Sue's known for scouring the grounds for poor students to torture when the weather doesn't allow her to be as content as she is with torturing the Cheerios with the forces of nature," Kurt said, before looking at her white and red uniform. "Something you're well familiar with."

Olive nodded, moving to open the door for Kurt. He quickly opened it himself first, and waited for her to go in first.

"I don't feel like going inside quite yet," She said with a small smile, and Kurt tightened his grip on his coat with the hand that wasn't preoccupied with letting out the heat from the school corridor.

"You sure? It's cold out here," He said, and she nodded.

"Building up my endurance," Olive said with a wink, and Kurt just laughed.

"Try to not get hypothermia," Kurt said before walking inside. He could hear her call out something akin to 'Hypothermia my ass'.

Shaking his head with a small grin on his face, he walked through the all too familiar halls of McKinley. Turning the corner, he saw Blaine and Rachel next to his locker, huddled up and whispering loudly.

"Blaine," Rachel hissed softly, and the junior just sighed.

"I'll see you after school today," Blaine said with a small nod, before looking up to see Kurt looking at them, confused.

"Hey Kurt. Nice weather we're having, right?" Blaine said with his usual chipper tone, turning to Rachel before Kurt could even respond, or even tell them to get the hell out of his way to his locker.

"Alrightie then, Ms. Berry, me and you have a date with destiny later," He said before wagging his eyebrows, and Rachel cracked a smile.

"You're an idiot," She said before pushing him gently, and he laughed.

"Bye guys, see you in the choir room!" He called out as he, Kurt assumed, made his way to his own locker next to Rory's in the junior's corridor. Kurt looked at Rachel expectantly, and she just jumped up and clapped.

"So I know the performances last week were amazing and all, but we have to buckle down this week and get things ready for Sectionals. I'm kinda of happy they put it off till January this year, although it does make focusing harder than if they would have been in late November, early December as per usual," Rachel began to rant, before launching into a full on speech about how she wrote a few songs and how she thinks they would be amazing to use. Kurt could only stare at her, and after about five minutes of her talking, she looked up from the mini notebook she had taken out three minutes ago to see Kurt's face.

"What?" She asked bossily, and he just shook his head.

"I will miss your insanity over break," He said, and she brightened up.

"Are you sure you don't come with me and my dads to New York?" She asked, and Kurt shook his head.

"I'm sure. My dad and Carole are leaving the country to go on some cruise in the Bahamas or something, and Finns going to OU to check the campus out," Kurt began to explain, and Rachel just nodded impatiently, obviously waiting for his point. Carefully he went on to say, "Someone has to be home to watch the house. Besides, I think Leroy and Hiram were hoping to bond with you, and not have you drag along one of your friends."

Rachel just waved her hand to ignore his last comment.

"Dad and Daddy love you," She said, and Kurt just laughed.

"Still doesn't mean they want me tagging along with you guys. Seriously, Rachel, I'll be fine," He said, and Rachel pouted.

"If you say so. Although, I'll be sure to bring you a souvenir! Oh, maybe a pride shirt saying 'I can get married here now'. Or maybe I could get you something with a bow on it. Or-" Rachel said quickly, before being shut up by Kurt's hand on her mouth.

"Leave the souvenir buying to your dads Rachel," He informed her, and she pouted even more.

"Fine," She mumbled, and crossed her arms.

"It's a good thing your fashion changed for the better after Nationals last year, or else you'd look like a bratty wool nightmare," Kurt told her, and Rachel just stuck her tongue out at him before going to her own locker, which was only a few down from Kurt's.

He took off his coat and put it away after shaking off the excess snow from it, and unwound the scarf from his neck onto the little hook next to his coat. Bending down slightly to look at the mirror he had, he lightly touched his hair to get it back to the perfect shape it had been before. Satisfied with it, Kurt sprayed a small amount of hair spray on to his hair, and closed his locker with a small thud. Humming to himself, he made his way to the choir room, where a small crowd had accumulated. He raised a delicate eyebrow, and Rachel frowned.

"Noah's not here yet," She explained to him, and before he could reply, a small thud rang through the hallways.

Kurt's heart sped up; school didn't start for a good hour, and none of the janitors in the building actually cleaned in the morning. Finn took a few steps forward, and turned around the corner.

"Hey, Sam, Mike, come over here," He called out after laughing a bit, and the two just looked at each other before shrugging. They soon disappeared from view, and came back with arms filled with presents.

"Presents!" Brittany said happily, tugging on Santana's arm. Santana smiled at the girl.

"I see Brit," She said, before turning to look at Sam.

"Fish lips, where those come from?" Santana asked, and Sam rolled his eyes.

"The garden of sunshine and happiness Santana," He said gruffly as he struggled to juggle all the presents he had, with Mike trailing behind him doing the same. Finn followed after with less presents in hand, and soon enough Noah rounded the corner with a small plastic bag that Kurt saw held even more presents.

"Sorry guys, it took me a lot longer than I expected to get these inside from my car," He said sheepishly, before throwing the keys to Artie. Artie caught them easily, and turned slightly to open the door. Everyone moved out of his way as he maneuvered his chair to face the door, and the small click of the lock being undone made Sam let out a sigh of relief.

Artie quickly moved his way inside, and frowned when he heard something crack from under his chair.

"Who left something in front of the doorway aga- And oh, what da hell?"

The room didn't look at all how they had all left it Friday afternoon, decorated for the holiday season. It looked as if a small hurricane had ravaged the room, leaving only a few things untouched.

Shattered tree decorations were sprinkled across the ground, tauntingly still as shiny and colorful as they had been before they were shards of themselves. The garlands had been stripped of their tinsel, and their skeletons were lying lazily in the trash along with many of the gifts the glee club members had gotten each other the week before. The tree they used to have in the center of the room was gone, and the only thing left of it was the tree skirt Tina had brought from home. The chairs were knocked over and laid all across the room, and most of first through third periods sheet music and assignments had been thrown about carelessly around the room.

"Oh my God," Collins whispered, a hand over mouth in shock. The sophomores shoulders shook slightly, before shaking her head and screwing her eyes close.

"This looks even worse than my farm after the 100 mile winds blew through and took away Bessie," Rory said quietly, and Blaine squeezed his hand. Kurt could only close his eyes from the scene of destruction within the room, and took a deep breath.

"Alright, everyone inside. Collins, you mind getting some trash bags from the janitors for us?" Kurt said loudly, and Collins shook her head.

"I'll be back in a few, they're probably still in the janitors closet turned bro cave watching sport recaps," she said before walking down the hallway and turning the corner, smoothing down her Cheerios uniform. Mercedes could only shake her head before picking up a chair and standing it back upright before sitting down, with Olive following suit.

Brittany immediately zipped to the trash can, and Santana went after her girlfriend with a sigh. The two scavenged what presents they could slowly, and a small pile was slowly beginning to accumulate as they dug deeper and deeper in the bin. Noah could only grit his teeth before bending down to pick up the sheet music that had been scattered everywhere, resisting the urge to yell whenever he saw shoe marks on some of them.

Kurt leaned on the wall as he watched everyone begin to talk amongst themselves quietly while cleaning up the wreckage. Of all the days, this just had to happen today, Kurt thought bitterly as he felt his good mood begin to spiral downwards.

"Most of the presents are ok, except for my present to Noah," Brittany said with a sigh, and Santana put her hands on her hips.

"Most of them are a bit crushed, but nothing too big. Puck, yours from Britts was kind of... Alive to begin with, and it chewed itself out after what I'm guessing was the impact breaking the cage wire inside of the wrapping paper," Santana said, and Kurt watched as Noah raised an eyebrow from where he was picking up papers.

"Alive?" He asked after a moment of hesitating, and Brittany frowned while nodding.

"Yeah, it was one of Lord Tubbington's bestest friends, Stuart Biggie. He was supposed to have been in here, but I guess he just couldn't stand being in the trash," Brittany sniffled, and Santana just wrapped an arm around Brittany.

"It's ok. Right?" She said, looking at Noah.

"Yeah, no, seriously. It's alright Brit, no big deal... He's probably still in here, waiting to make an appearance," Noah said, hiding his grimace from the blond cheerleader. Kurt shivered at the thought of a mouse or rat visiting them in the middle of class, and practically skipped over to the door when Collins finally came back with the trash bags, taking two from her with a small 'thanks'. She barely quirked a smile in his direction before heading straight for Finn, and getting on her tip toes to whisper in his ear. He stood straight up, and Kurt looked at his step brother.

"Something wrong?" He asked, and Finn cleared his throat.

"Um, Quinn's coming in a few. She's got some news," He said awkwardly, and Tilley fidgeted.

"News?" She asked, and Finn nodded. With a shrug, he took a trash bag from Kurt and began to pick up tinsel from the ground. With a grin, Collins tapped his back and pointed to the broom leaning against the doorway.

"Oh. Right. Thanks babe," He said blushing, kissing Collins on the cheek before going to get the broom. Collins just shook her head and laughed, before distributing trash bags to everyone.

"Hey Finn, I'll handle the broken shards. You guys aren't allowed to touch anything too sharp," Puck reminded Finn, and Santana snickered from the other side of the room.

"You mean Finn the overgrown oompah loompa isn't allowed to touch anything too sharp," She said, and Noah rolled his eyes.

"Grow up Lopez," He warned, and Brittany nodded.

"San, be nicer," She reminded the girl, and she just shrugged.

"It's called fun. And humour. Hell knows we need some right now," She said, and Kurt could tell Finn was about to retaliate with some off handed comment when Quinn came storming in.

A collective gasp hushed all other noise in the room; Quinn was dressed in a navy blue knee length skirt, with a thin white shirt on top, and a tan belt complimenting her slim figure by cinching the two pieces of clothing together. Her tan wedges added an extra inch or two that her running shoes had never provided, and Kurt was quick to note that navy blue complimented her well.

"Q, what the hell?" Santana said, and Quinn blew her hair out of her face.

"Sue was the one who destroyed the choir room," she said, and instantly, the room exploded. Shouts and exclamations of foul play were heard, and the Cheerios in the room instantly grouped themselves around Quinn. Kurt could only see their lips moving, and a few of their jaws were set tightly as Quinn explained. Noah was by his desk going through papers when Quinn made her announcement, and his head instantly snapped up when he heard.

Collins, Brittany, Santana, and Olive were all surrounding Quinn, and no one could hear what was being said for a few seconds as their outburst died down.

"What do you mean Sue did this?" Olive asked, and Quinn just laughed coldly.

"Did you really think the hockey team had the keys to this room?" She said dryly, and Collins shook her head.

"That's it. I have put up with her bull shit since freshman year, and I'm sick of it," Collins growled out, and Brittany looked down at the ground.

"Col," She said quietly, reaching her hand out to grab the girl, but Collins side stepped out of her reach.

"I thought I would have dropped out senior year, but whoops. There goes my stellar college application," Collins said sarcastically, before running out of the room. Turning, Kurt looked at Finn and tilted his head towards the door, and it took Finn a couple of seconds to realize what Kurt had meant.

He must have understood Kurt was thinking 'go after her', because he awkwardly handed Sam the broom.

"Hey bro um. Yeah. Thanks?" Finn said to Sam before running out after Collins, and Sam looked a bit amused.

"Words were never his forte," Rachel commented, before looking at Quinn.

"She took you off the Cheerios?" She asked, her tone full of surprise. Quinn was the head cheerleader of the Cheerios with Santana, and it was obvious that she was the favorite of the cheer coach. She, along with everyone else, was surprised when Quinn adopted a growing smirk on her face.

"I quit."

"Correction. We all need some damn drinks right now." Santana said while tightening her ponytail, a nervous habit of hers. Brittany's frown steepened as she tugged on Santana's shirt hem.

The Latina turned to look at her girlfriend, who was currently frowning, and looked to be deep in thought about something.

"Well, Q, if you quit, then me and San will quit too. Right San?" the blond asked, and Santana looked conflicted for a few seconds, before lifting her chin and standing straight.

"Hells yeah. We Lopez's don't get bitched like this," She said with pride, and Noah snorted.

"No you guys just bitch each other," he mumbled, snickering, obviously remembering the dildo incident. Santana glared at him, but he waved her off. He stood straight up and leaned on his desk, studying the cheerleaders in front of him.

"Girls, if you want to stay on the team, I won't penalize you," Noah said carefully, and Olive shrugged.

"I never had fun in it anyways," She said as she began to take off her cheer shirt, showing a blue camisole underneath.

"I'm gonna go find Col, she has my change of clothes," Olive said, tossing her cheer shirt to the side before walking out. Tilley smirked.

"Hey Olive, way to give us a preview of your future," Tilley called out teasingly, and suddenly Olive's hand was in the doorway, in a rude hand gesture. Tilley just chuckled before turning to talk to Artie, who was in the middle of trying to figure out what to do with Olive's shirt, which had fallen on him.

"Well... This is a great way to leave for break," Kurt said quietly, and instantly Tina laughed.

"The only way it could get more interesting is if the guys all quit basketball," She pointed out, and Sam smirked.

"If I weren't in swimming-," He started to say, before Santana interrupted him.

"Trouty Mouth, we know you're way into seeing the outlines of dick in those speedos and diving face first into cold chlorinated water in hopes of shrinking those huge lips of yours to quit," She rattled off as she began to throw presents at people, and Sam looked mildly offended before Brittany handed him a present.

"Don't mind her," She said with a wink before going back to the presents, and Santana just looked at Sam while mouthing 'best mind me'.

Kurt just shook his head, and ducked when Santana threw a present towards Mercedes, who was sitting behind him. She flashed the countertenor a smile, before apologizing.

"Sorry baby face, I keep forgetting you've grown like a foot since freshman year," She said before throwing one directly at him.

"It's okay Satan- Santana," He said, and Santana did a little shimmy and winked before turning to throw a particularly heavy present at Artie. Kurt caught his own present easily enough (unlike Artie who had nearly toppled over from the force of his present) and looked at who it was from.

From : Noah

Tightening his grasp on the small package, he quickly slipped it into his bag before stepping out into the hallway. He hadn't expected to see Finn and Collin kissing, and certainly didn't expect Rachel to follow him outside. He cringed, ready for the shouting match to begin between the two ex-lovebirds.

Rachel cleared her throat, and Finn looked up, and smiled sheepishly.

"H-hey there Rach," he sputtered out, while Collins took a step back and blushed.

"Hi Rachel," She said quietly, and Rachel just looked annoyed.

"Go make out inside the room, I need to talk to my fellow co-captain here," Rachel said, clearly a bit aggravated, and Collins nodded before blushing.

"Right. Or. Well. No. I mean, we're not going to go make out, just-" She stuttered out, before Finn just took her hand and dragged her back into the room. Rachel rolled her eyes at the pair, before looking at Kurt. She began to fiddle with her skirt hem, biting her lip. Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Rachel are you alright?" Kurt asked slowly, and Rachel continued to bite her lip. She looked up at him slightly, before sighing.

"I.. I think-" She started off with, before shaking her head. She stepped back, and allowed herself to allow the wall behind her support most of her weight. Her head bowed for a couple of seconds, before Rachel looked up at him, her eyes wide. He took a small step back. She looked... Worried. Concerned. Scared.

"Rachel, honey, what's going on in that little mind of yours?" Kurt asked quietly, and Rachel looked at him through glazed over eyes, before shaking her head. She bit her lip, and opened her mouth multiple times.

"I-" She started to say, when she retreated in on herself.

"Rachel?" Kurt asked softly, tipping the girls chin up with his index finger. She looked at him, before sighing. Something in her immediately changed, and Kurt couldn't help but feel like she was hiding something from him.

"Nothing of importance. I- Well, it's just that I was by the choir room last week, and saw you and Puck-" Rachel whispered, and Kurt slumped forward slightly. He immediately forgot all about his suspicions of her changing the subject of the conversation, and rubbed his arm. She broke off, and shook her head.

"Do you love him?" She asked in a hushed whisper, and Kurt looked at her shocked.

"Rachel Barbara Berry, I've known the man for a month and a week at most," He whispered yelled at her, before composing himself. The only word to describe him at that moment would be 'defeated'.

"But to say I'm not attracted to him would be a lie."

Rachel's face broke out into a grin then, and Kurt just stared at her. She shrugged.

"Good, so my observation skills are still on point," she said, humming her content at the end. Kurt just shook his head.

"Anything else you want to talk about?" He asked her, suddenly remembering how scared she had been before about something that could not have had to do with him liking their choir director. She wrinkled her nose, and opened her mouth as if to say something, but shook her head and adopted a small smile on her face.

"Not at the current moment, no," she said, before straightening up and taking his hand.

"Come on, let's go back inside," she sing songed, skipping back into the room before Kurt could ask her what was up. Rolling his eyes at her antics, he let out a small laugh as he was dragged back into the choir room.

The room was slowly being shaped back into its original form. The chairs were all back in their places, upright and ready to be sat in. Rory and Sam were picking up the tinsel and sharps with Noah, while Rachel joined Blaine, who was looking through the beaten up sheet music and smoothing papers out.

Mercedes was talking to Sam, and Kurt smiled. At least they're on talking terms again, he thought to himself as he looked at the small pile of presents left on his chair, where his messenger bag also resided. Most of them were small, although two of them were big.

Like everyone else, he stashed them in the glee club cabinet, along with the many wigs and mics they kept in there year round.

"You guys can just chill today. I don't think we'll meet after today. Tomorrow morning good with everyone?" Noah asked as he disposed the last of the broken glass and plastic shards. Everyone nodded and voiced their agreements.

"Alright, cool," He said, and met Kurt's eyes. He smiled, and Kurt could feel his heart skip a beat. Cursing himself, he looked away with a scowl, and began to fiddle with his bag. He felt a light tap on his shoulder, and whirled around quickly.

Quinn backed up quickly, and put her hands up.

"Kurt, it's just me," She said, and Kurt laughed haggardly.

"Yeah, sorry Quinn. Just a bit shaken up," He said, and she nodded.

"Understandable. I'm actually waiting for someone to slushy me out of nowhere," She replied with a sad smile on her face. Kurt tilted his head to the side.

"I don't think you'll have that problem. Slushies have been rare since Ms. Dubois went crazy last year when Rory came in dripping green," Kurt reminded her, and Quinn looked at him seriously.

"Kurt, you don't get to be head cheerleader without being a bit of a bitch," Quinn pointed out, before looking down at her clothes.

"I just hope it's blue, I'd prefer this skirt to be salvageable," She noted, before sighing.

"Hey, so, seeing how we don't have practice today, mind going out for coffee with me after school?" She asked quickly, looking at the ground. Kurt frowned.

"Something the matter Q?" He asked, and she looked up at him. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the tears welling up in her eyes. She bit her lip, and shook her head.

"Nothing. It's nothing, never mind" She mumbled, turning to leave. Kurt quickly caught her wrist with his hand, and looked at her.

"Quinn, seriously. I don't know what's going on, but I'll be there. Did you want me to drive you, or do you have your own ride?" He said with a small smile, and the senior took a deep breath.

"I've got my own car," She said with finality, and smiled slightly at Kurt.

"Thanks... A lot," Quinn said, before nodding and leaving.

"This is turning out to be very interesting. Girls, I swear," Kurt mumbled under his breath as he heard the hallway slowly come alive with the voices of other students, and decided now would be a good time to disappear out of the room. Bag slung over his shoulder, he left for his first period, Calculus.

* * *

><p>"So everyone understands the two theories that the video discussed, right?"<p>

Kurt looked down at his notes while the rest of the class nodded. Mr. Brandon grinned.

"Alright, good. So who thinks that dogs rose from wolves because of forced domestication from being adopted at an early age by humans?"

A quarter of the class put their hands up, and the teacher nodded.

"Interesting. Ok, who thinks that dogs rose from wolves because of carefully calculated domestication to benefit from humans?"

The rest of the class put their hands up, including the teacher.

"Good, good, we'll have an interesting discussion when we come back from break about this. So, class will be in the library tomorrow and canceled on Wednesday. Roll will be taken tomorrow, but if you have something better to do than sit in a room and do homework, which is what you'll be doing tomorrow, just talk to me before hand. As for Wednesday, this class is all seniors but for five of you. Meaning don't show up," Mr. Brandon clipped out, and the class cheered.

"Happy Holidays, everyone," the middle aged man told the class, right when the bell rang. Students filed out, and Kurt was quick to get to his locker before Rachel or Mercedes could pin point him down and talk his ear off with gossip and talks of Sectionals. Stuffing his books in his lockers, he retrieved his AP Language book to take home, as well as his journal filled with sheet music, and carefully put them in his bag.

Taking his coat and scarf, he shrugged on his coat and walked outside, buttoning his coat while blinking his eyes rapidly to make sure he could see through the snow that was falling steadily all around him. Wrestling with air in his pocket, he finally fished out his car keys and quickly made his way through the snowy parking lot to his Escalator. Unsteady hands caused him to drop his keys several times before he finally managed to unlock his vehicle, and he began to mentally scold himself for not bothering to wear gloves today.

Letting the car warm up, he resisted the urge to look in the back seat, where his presents were sitting. He had managed to stuff them in a small plastic bag during his lunch period while Noah was out at a conference with Figgens, and had quickly stuffed them in his car before running back inside to eat his lunch. There were presents in there from everyone in glee club, but he couldn't help but fixate himself on thinking about the present from Noah.

Well, you'll find out what it is soon enough, he thought to himself with a bit of a sadistic smile on his face as he took his baby out of park, slowly making his way to the Lima Bean.

* * *

><p>Ta-da! Hope you guys had a lovely Christmas  Hanukkah if you celebrate, and are currently not worrying about school. Like me. Whoo! Will probably end up pumping out another chapter before I head back to school, which will be mainly the Lima Bean scene with Quinn and Kurt, and some fairly great scenes that will remind you of BIOTA. Fun stuff, right? Anyways, hope you guys like this chapter. Feedback would be appreciated. I also don't own Glee. Like. At all. Just so you guys know. Also, sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and I suck at grammar even when I'm nice and healthy. And. Ok, yeah done with my A/N. Also, another apology is in order for no sex yet. Be patient, my fellow puckurtsies. It will all come soon enough.

-Lori


	5. Chapter 5

side note : I suck. A lot. Happy late New Year everyone!

**_Chapter Five - But I'm a Cheerleader_**

Walking into the coffee shop, Kurt loosened his scarf, looking on either side for Quinn.

The Lima Bean was empty compared to it's average afternoon rush, but it didn't surprise Kurt. Most people were getting ready to leave Lima for the holidays, and probably couldn't be bothered going out of their way for coffee at the Lima Bean. There was always drive through at McDonalds, Kurt thought with a cringe.

That being said, it was easy enough for him to find the familiar blond, sitting by the window and peering out at the winter white wonderland. He noted she had bought him a small cup of coffee, and a cup of tea for herself. Sitting down, he looked over at her as she swirled a spoon in her drink.

"Thanks for the coffee," Kurt said with a small smile on his face, and Quinn nodded, biting her lip. She kept her head down, staring at her cup of tea as if it would disappear if she didn't. Taking a sip of the coffee, Kurt was glad she had bought him his regular coffee of non fat mocha. He continued to drink the coffee happily, waiting for Quinn to start off the conversation when she was ready. She was the one who invited him after all, he thought to himself as he put down his now half empty coffee. Besides, it seemed like she wasn't too comfortable (and even a bit frightened) of what she about to tell him.

A few times Quinn opened her mouth to say something, but she would immediately shut herself up with a gulp of tea (and then immediately cringe from the heat of it). She sighed, before looking around. Finally, she opened her lips to softly mumble something. The only indication that Kurt had that she had even said something was the fact that her lips had moved. He could only tilt his head slightly, and raise an eyebrow. "Quinn, did you say something?" Kurt asked carefully, and the blond let out a frustrated sigh.

"This should not be as hard as it is," she mumbled to herself, running a hand through her hair. Kurt could only sit and watch as she fidgeted in her seat, drinking from her tea cup every couple of seconds. He jumped in his seat when she suddenly pushed the cup away from her, and crossed her arms across her chest. She blew some hair out of her face, before staring at the strands of hair in her face with disdain.

"Oh to hell with it," She muttered, before straightening up in her seat and looking at Kurt. She offered him a weak smile, before taking a deep breath.

"Kurt, I- I'm gay."

Kurt choked on his coffee, and immediately shut his lips tights so he wouldn't get himself, the table, and Quinn dirty with back washed coffee. Quinn's eyes widened, before thrusting a wad of napkins towards Kurt. He took them gratefully, putting them up to his mouth. Coughing, he could feel his airways clearing up, glad he didn't do a spit take all over himself and practically half the coffee shop.

"Are you okay? Oh God, I should have waiting until you were done with the drink. Springing that onto you like that, and just, oh God. Kurt I'm sorry" Quinn rambled to herself, watching Kurt recover. He cleared his throat, feeling the last of the liquid finally go down (the right pipe this time), before looking over at Quinn.

"You're gay," he said, letting the words roll off his tongue, ignoring her mini freak out seconds before. Quinn bit her lip, and nodded.

"How long have you known?" He asked, his voice getting softer and quieter. Even if the coffee shop was empty compared to most other days, news could spread fast throughout Lima with just one other person knowing. Quinn slumped over in her chair, putting holding her head up with her hands.

"Freshman year," she mumbled, looking at her tea cup. Kurt looked down at his cup of coffee, and decided right now he probably didn't want to finish it at that exact moment. She looked up slightly, and frowned.

"Sorry, I should have thought of meeting over frozen yogurt or something other than drinks," She apologized, and Kurt just waved her off.

"No, it's alright. I'm just a bit-," Kurt started off, with Quinn interrupting him.

"Surprised?" She said with a hint of a smile on her face, and Kurt's lips pressed together. He shook his head.

"I think shocked would be a better word for it. I had some suspicions, but to finally hear it come all out in the open," Kurt said, trailing off at the end before shrugging, "It's shocking."

Quinn looked at him incredulously.

"I'm not obvious about it!" She said, her cheeks heating up slightly. Kurt could only smile at her.

"Honey, all of your past boyfriends have been more for the looks rather than the connection," He said, before drinking the last of his coffee. "Besides, I saw you checking out Brittany's ass more than once after Cheerios practice. Be glad Santana didn't see you."

Quinn's cheeks turned bright pink, and she stuttered out several consonants before giving up with a small sigh.

"Oh whatever," She mumbled, before looking at her cup of tea. She pushed it away suddenly, and got up.

"Come on, this place is too quiet and it's making me nervous," Quinn said, and Kurt nodded. He understood where she was coming from; the quiet was a bit unnerving, especially when they were discussing what they were. He stood up along with her, tightening the knot in his scarf.

"We can go back to my place," He offered, and Quinn paled.

"Finn-" She said, and Kurt just grinned.

"Finn's at Ohio State right now with an old friend," Kurt told her, and Quinn laughed nervously.

"Good," She said, slipping on her coat. "I don't think me coming out to him suited his plans for senior year, and he kind of avoids me now in the hallways."

Kurt looked over at the blond, before covering his mouth with his hand.

"So you're why Finn came home on Friday mumbling about how he didn't know if everything sucked or not," Kurt noted with a snort, and Quinn just rolled her eyes.

"First he asked me how I was gay and I had been with him twice, and then asked me if I had a girlfriend, and then proceeded to ask if he could watch us make out," Quinn smirked, shaking her head.  
>"Finn just has a way with words," She said sarcastically, buttoning the last of the buttons on her coat. She looked up at Kurt, a grin on her face.<p>

"All ready."

* * *

><p>A few hours later, and Kurt was waving goodbye to Quinn outside of his house. He watched her silver Prius drive down the street, before turning the corner, and (Kurt assumed) back towards her house.<p>

Watching the snow pepper the ground with white, he thought to himself how easy it would be for Allen County to close schools for the next two days. Shaking his head, he reasoned with himself how ridiculous it would be for the light snow fall to cancel school. If school did get canceled, it was all out of the pure laziness of the board members, he thought to himself as he walked back inside and locked the door behind him.

Making his way into the kitchen while humming Defying Gravity, he reminded himself to have the pots he used earlier to cook dinner for him and Quinn to soak for a while. He had cooked pasta with Alfredo sauce made from scratch, which meant the cheeses from it had stuck to the pan like they were born to make washing the dishes hell for him.

Passing by his school bag, he remembered the bag of presents waiting for him at the foot of the steps leading up to the second level of the house, and sighed. All day he had the recurring thought of just ripping open Noah's present to him, but it was the little nagging voice that kept telling him 'he's your teacher' and 'he gave everyone else a present, you're nothing special' that prevented him from doing so. Turning on the water, he poured some soap onto the sponge and picked up the first plate.

The sounds of dishes clinking and clanking together filled the air, and it made Kurt miss the usual sounds of his dad watching Deadliest Catch in the living room, with Finn asking random questions about the fishes and why they were on a boat in the first place. He missed the usual conversation he had with Carole over cleaning up the kitchen, with both of them yelling at Finn and Dad when they tried to steal a bag of chips and dip. Smiling to himself as he thought of his family, Kurt wondered what they were up to at that moment.

Carole and Dad would probably be on the cruise liner, unpacking all their luggage, while Finn's probably just talking to his roommate, Kurt thought to himself as he turned off the tap and picked up the small hand towel next to the kitchen sink. Drying his hands, he looked around the room.

It was usually a lot messier than this, but normally, they would cook for four people, not just two. That, and Finn normally tried to help clean up, which would resulted in a bigger mess before Carole or Kurt banished him to the living room.

Frowning, he looked at the clock. Six thirty the little numbers told him, and he leaned on the counter, his hands latched on to them to support him. "What the hell am I supposed to do now," Kurt said quietly, a bit frustrated.

"There's no homework to be done, meaning no helping Finn with his," he said, trailing off, before going on and saying, "No reminding dad to not stress out and not eat whatever greasy thing he's trying to stuff in his mouth... No helping Carole figure out outfits or planning out what we're going to cook for the week." Groaning, he walked out of the kitchen and upstairs, knowing what was waiting for him.

His door was already open from him going up there earlier, so he just flipped the light switch on. His line of vision immediately went to the small bag of presents waiting for him, and he just shook his head.

"You're an idiot," Kurt mumbled to himself as he sat on his bed, staring at the present. He looked over at the laptop on his bed, an idea forming in his head.

"Maybe I can just do some online shopping or look at some fashion blogs," Kurt said under his breath, before his cell phone went off in his pocket.

He took it out and unlocked it, to see a text from Mercedes.

luv, Luv, LUV the shoes u got me! We should go out 2morro since I won't b here for break

His eyes shot wide open at the last part, and he laid back on his bed. His brows furrowed as he thought of who would be in town this break, and he soon came to the haunting realization that most of the gleeks would be out of Lima for the holidays.

Rachel was already in New York. Finn was at OSU, while Sam was visiting his family in Kentucky. Mercedes was going to California with her parents to see some relatives, and Artie was going to Virginia for some program at Virginia Tech. Tina and Mike's family were taking some kind of joint family vacation to who knows where (Kurt was certain it'd be a bit awkward wherever they went), and the school was throwing some kind of trip for the lower classmen to go to Hershey Park and then Philadelphia for two weeks.

"That leaves Quinn, Brittany, Blaine, and Santana," Kurt groaned, shaking his head. He hadn't spoken much with Blaine since the whole Blainchel fiasco that happened at one of Rachel's house parties. They'd gone out for a week, before Blaine realized he was one hundred percent gay. But by then, Rory had transferred in, and the two had hit it off pretty well seeing how they were the two newest students at McKinley. They'd been together for almost a year now, and Kurt felt it was way too awkward to talk to him after all the flirting they had done before (Baby it's Cold Outside, anyone?)

Quinn, Brittany, and Santana seemed to be better options for people to hang out with, he reasoned with himself. Hopefully, with Quinn around, Brittany and Santana wouldn't start to have sex like they did the one time Kurt went with them to the movies. He could only shudder at the memory as he shot off a text to them asking if they wanted to hang out during break.

Sitting up, he looked over at the present before finally giving in and picking the bag up and onto his bed. He purposefully put Noah's off to the side, before opening the rest of them. A lot of the couples had given out joint presents, Kurt noticed with a half amused, half pained expression (there was a present from Rachel and Finn. Rachel. And. Finn).

Shaking his head, he opened his presents one by one. A new pair of gloves from Mercedes, a (surprisingly) tasteful bow tie from Finn and Rachel, and a shirt from Mike and Tina. Rory and Blaine got him a sketchbook, while Quinn gave him a set of coloured pencils along with a fabric swatch from the new store in Columbus that opened up the other week. Sugar, Olive, Tilley, and Collins all chipped in to get him a new pair of boots, and Artie got him a vintage watch that he fixed up himself. Sam gave him a comic book he made about a gay superhero who was a fashion designer by night, and a savior of fashion at night by preventing fashion designers from creating natural disasters out of clothing and accessories (Kurt had to admit Sam had a talent, and that from the few pages he read, it was pretty hilarious and good despite the plot line being what it was).

Brittany and Santana had somehow managed to give him some very... Inappropriate presents. His face heated up as he read the note, and he could only shake his head.

The note read as : Baby face, you're all grown up now, so Britt Britt and I thought that for your last Christmas before you're a nice well to do eighteen year old who can buy this shit on your own, we'd do it for you. Merry Fuckmas Lady Lips, and have a fucking fantastic New Years. Brittany also wanted to put in a coupon here for a threesome with us, but seeing how you're gayer than that tool, Jack or Jim Barrowman, I talked her out of it. The offer still stands however, if you ever get the need for random pussy xoxo Auntie Tana and Britt.

He was glad he hadn't gotten a present that was alive and kicking, like they had gotten for Noah (and that his father was definitely not at home for this; Kurt had a feeling he could just sense things like this being in the house).

After sending texts of thank yous to everyone (and a reprimanding one to Santana), he looked over at the one present left on his bed. Taking it, he squeezed it slightly. It was a bit banged up from what Kurt only guess as Noah dropping them on his way to the classroom, but it the box was still in tact, with the bow and ribbon still in place. Hands trembling slightly, he tugged on the ribbon, and it unraveled from the present quickly. Lifting the box cover off, he saw the thing that had kept him on edge the whole day.

A scarf.

Picking it up gingerly, Kurt let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. Running his hand over it, he was surprised by just how soft the material felt, and how intricate the weaving was in the small portion where it was present. He draped it around his neck and knotted it, before looking to the side where he knew his vanity mirror was. Kurt quickly decided it looked good on him; the colour matched his eyes somewhat, and made them pop out even more so than usual. It wasn't until he turned his head back to look down that he realized there was a weird, chafing sensation in his neck.

Frowning, he loosened the scarf's hold on his neck, and down fluttered a small slip of paper. Picking it up, he recognized the loopy scrawl of Noah's handwriting on it. Swallowing, he shut his eyes for a second, and opened them to read the note.

'Hey Kurt. Saw this the other day in the mall, and thought it'd bring out that weird light shade of grey in your eyes that I pointed out to you that time you were by the window in class and the sun was all like 'bam' and made them seem even brighter than usual... I swear I'm a university student. Anyways, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Can't wait to work with you when we get back from break for Regionals – Noah'

A million things ran through his mind, and he just fell back onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"What the hell am I doing," He asked himself quietly, his fingertips lightly brushing against the scarf still around his neck.

* * *

><p>Groggily, Kurt looked up from his pillow and at his alarm clock. The bright red numbers read ' 5 : 30 ', and Kurt damned whoever was calling him to hell at that exact moment. Reaching for his phone sleepily, he lost it three different times before finally getting a grip onto it. He pushed in his password, and hit the pick up button with frustration.<p>

"You had better have a good reason for calling," Kurt snapped at whoever it was, and he could hear a small cough from the other end.

"Well, boo, I was just calling to say good bye. School's canceled for the rest of the week, and my parents wanted to hop on a plane to Cali before the chances of getting snowed in happe-" Mercedes said, before breaking off for a second, and returning with, "-and oh my God, Kurt, it's only five thirty, I thought I had set my phone to California time already and-"

Kurt could only sigh and rub at his eyes, trying to make sense of what his best friend just told him. "Ok. School canceled. You're leaving today for California," Kurt said with a yawn, and Mercedes let out a small 'mhmm'.

"Ugh, okay. Miss you 'Cedes, make sure you send me a few texts once in a while," He said sleepily, and Mercedes laughed.

"Boy, all I understood from that was 'miss you', and 'text'," Mercedes said, before giggling. "Don't worry, I'll text you when I can. You know how my dad is with family events and texting. Miss you already."

"Right. Right. Texting. Maybe. And. Yes," Kurt mumbled, and Mercedes snorted.

"Right, I'm gonna hang up now. You're not making any sense," Mercedes said, and Kurt rolled his eyes. Or, he did the equivalent of it with his eyes closed.

"You don't make sense," he whispered, and Mercedes just laughed.

"Bye sweetie," was the last thing Kurt heard before a small 'click' rang in his ear, and suddenly, a consistent dialing sound occurred. Scrunching his face, he hit the 'end call' button immediately before dropping the phone somewhere or another, and rolling over to go back to sleep.

He found himself not being able to go back to sleep for another half hour, and just when he was about to finally fall back asleep, someone else calls him.

Steam coming out of his ears, he debated whether he should pick it up or not. But, when he realized it could be anyone calling, aka his dad or Carole, he quickly moved his hands around on the bed looking for it, and as seconds went by, he opened his eyes and realized it wasn't on the bed. Frustrated, he looked on the floor, where, lookie there, there was his phone. Picking it up, he unlocked it with unsteady fingers (it almost locked him out), and quickly answered it.

"What?" he hissed, before hoping that it wasn't his dad calling. That would make for a whole conversation about whether or not he should hop on the next fleet ship or cargo flight back home, or something equally ridiculous.

"You seem upset," Santana smirked into the phone, and Kurt could only let out an indignant sound.

"Lopez, it is fucking 6 in the morning on a day with no school. I do not seem upset, I am upset," Kurt growled into the phone, and he could hear Santana laugh.

"Holy shit Hummel, if I didn't know any better, I'd ask who got into your pants. That was the hottest thing I've heard in the last five minutes," Santana said, and suddenly another voice came through the connection.

"You mean three," Brittany mused, and Santana just laughed.

"Yeah, three," she elaborated, and Kurt could only sigh into the phone.

"Bitch," He mumbled, and Santana gasped.

"Who? Moi? Why thank you," she said, before snickering. "Like the gift?"

"Fuck off," Kurt mumbled into the phone, and he could practically see Santana smirk on the other end of the phone.

"If you want," She said triumphantly, and Brittany added, "Wait, really Kurt?"

"No!" He near shouted into the phone, before calming down. "No Brittany, I didn't sophomore year, and I won't this year."

Brittany's voice came out a bit disappointed, but she didn't loose her jolly demeanor when she said, "Darn. Ok. Well, good morning Kurtie!"

"Why me," he asked himself, and Santana just laughed.

"Whatever Hummel. Anyways, you mentioned hanging out. Quinnie dearest is throwing a small sleepover tonight at her place, seeing how her mom's out at some Christian wine tasting on the river while talking about us sinful folk back home retreat or another," Santana told him, and Kurt could only whine.

"This is what you called me for?"

"Oh shut up, I was also making sure you brought some stuff for the sleepover. Quinn's still asleep, and sleeps like a goddamn troll."

"Oh, and Kurt, don't bring your present! This isn't that kind of sleepover with San," Brittany chirped in, and the line went silent for a few seconds.

"Right. Alright, I'll see you guys later," Kurt said after clearing his throat, and Santana coughed awkwardly.

"See you later, favorite gay," Santana said lazily, and before he hung up, Kurt swore he heard Brittany whine about how Kurt was her favorite gay. Shaking his head at the two of them, he turned his phone off and burrowed himself into his blanket, willing himself to go back to sleep. After about two hours of drifting in and out of sleep, he finally dragged himself out of bed to go make himself some breakfast (the fact that his stomach was making obnoxious sounds didn't help him go back to sleep either).

Slipping on his slippers and his robe, he sluggishly made his way downstairs, to the kitchen, and finally, the fridge. Rubbing his eyes, he squinted as he looked at all the food. He settled with cooking himself a cheese and mushroom egg white omelet, and made quick work to getting out all the ingredients and preparing them. Humming to himself, he closed his eyes as he whisked the ingredients together, the pan heating up on the stove as he did so.

He quickly got his breakfast together, and topped it off with a piece of whole wheat toast and some grapes. Leaning on the counter and eating, he went through his schedule for the day. What he came up with was basically lazying around the house and working on a few designs until 5, and then going to the store and picking up some snacks before heading over to Quinn's with an overnight bag.

Chewing on his omelet, he wondered how tonight might happen. All he could be sure of was Quinn having him stay up until the daylight hours again, just like the last time she had when she hosted a girls night in at her place when her mother was out on a trip to Columbus for the weekend. But then again, it had been all the glee girls, and not just all of the lesbians and Kurt.

"What the hell am I doing," he repeated to himself as he swallowed down the last of his breakfast, leaving the plate in the sink for later, and going back upstairs to, hopefully, catch up on some sleep.

* * *

><p>Quinn leaned on Kurt's shoulder as they watched 'But I'm a Cheerleader', a movie Kurt had found for cheap in the grocery store when he went to pick up all the stuff Quinn had asked him to get (as well as the stuff Brittany and Santana texted him to get last minute). Santana had protested at first, but when Brittany said she wanted to watch it, the Latina instantly recanted and sat down. The film was only about ten minutes in, and already the commentary had started.<p>

"I can't believe you chose this movie," Quinn laughed out as the the intervention scene happened on screen, and Kurt shrugged.

"I thought it was appropriate for you three," He smirked, and Santana just rolled her eyes from the other couch, where Brittany was curled up next to her.

"You too, Mr. Brokeback Cheerleader," Santana commented, and Kurt shrugged.

"I've been off the team for a year now," he pointed out, and Santana grumbled incoherently from her side of the room. She started to say something else, before Quinn shushed her.

"Shuddup Jiggles the Clown. I'm watching this," Quinn teased, and Santana looked at her.

"Whatever Peeper Jane," Santana said aridly, before letting out a small 'oomph' when a pillow hit her square in the face.

"Oh shuddup, they're holding up what they're saying is a vagina pillow or something." Quinn said, and Brittany sat up straighter.

"Oh look, it does look like one," She said dreamily, before slouching back against Santana.

"You guys are all so gay, it hurts even me," Kurt joked, and Santana shrugged.

"We're the two head gays, Hummel. Now that Fabray's finally fucking out, maybe we can rule the school with our iron fist of rainbow and shit," Santana pointed out, and Quinn snorted.

"Just imagine," she giggled out, and Brittany frowned.

"What am I?" She asked, and Santana looked at her for a moment, before saying, "Secretary of Bicorns and horses". Kurt snickered, and Quinn could only laugh even harder than she was before.

"You guys all suck," She laughed out as she clutched her side, fidgeting and rocking against Kurt as she laughed. Santana shook her head.

"Hummel sucks, Quinnie. We lick," she said with a wink, and Quinn's face lost some of its colouring. She covered her face with a pillow, and shook her head.

"I should have just invited Britt and Kurt," She mumbled into the pillow, and Santana smirked.

"You'd miss me too much," She said, before turning her attention back to the TV screen.

"Now shut the fuck, my mans RuPaul is here."

"I thought Rupaul was a girl San."

"... Britt, we'll talk about that tomorrow."

Kurt grinned, and looked back on the screen as he (finally) sipped his Diet Coke in peace, Quinn relaxing slowly next to him.

This isn't too bad, Kurt thought to himself. But then Santana threw a chip at him, and it hit Quinn, who threw another pillow at her, who then threw it back at Quinn, but hit Kurt in the face. Then, suddenly, Brittany stands up and shouts, "I'm gonna win this time, Lord Tubbington isn't here to puff out his cigar smoke into my face and make me lose again!"

That's how all the pillows, as well as cushions, in Quinn's living room ended up strewn all over the floor, and how Santana had a face full of guacamole, with Quinn's hair filled with bits of broken up potato chips. Brittany was trying to figure out how she got gum on her shirt, and Kurt could only glare at Santana, who had managed to rip his shirt. That's how he ended up sitting on the floor, half naked, with whipped cream on his chest at one in the morning.

"Jesus," Quinn laughed out as she shook her head, and Brittany dipped a finger into the guacamole on Santan's face, before sticking it into her mouth.

"This is really good," She concluded, and Santana swatted her hand away when she went back for more.

"You guys suck. At least this shit will help my face or something," Santana mumbled, and Kurt glared at her.

"You suck! That was my favorite sleep shirt, and now I'm sitting here without a shirt on and whipped cream all over my chest!" Kurt snapped, and Brittany looked at him. She shrugged.

"I mean, it's not like you're fat or not toned or anything. It's a pretty nice view," the blond pointed out, and Quinn agreed.

"Kurt, if you weren't gay and I was still in the closet, I'd totally date you," Quinn said, and Santana looked at Kurt, before licking some guacamole off the side of her mouth.

"I'd fuck you either way Hummel. A fine piece of ass is a fine piece of ass," Santana shrugged out, and Kurt could only shake his head.

"I'd be fucking you if anything," he muttered as he struggled to not get whipped cream everywhere else on his body. Santana snorted.

"That's not what my strap on told me," She snickered, and Kurt looked at her.

"Touche Satan, touche," he admitted, and before Santana could say something, Quinn came into the conversation.

"Anyways. Let's get cleaned up. Kurt, you can use the guest room's bathroom, while Santana will use mine, and Brittany will use my parent's," Quinn said, getting up and dusting herself off. Santana glared at her.

"That was once!" She whined, and Kurt looked at Quinn confused. She glared at the Latina, and shook her head.

"And then twice. And then three times. I don't need you and Brittany desecrating all of my showers," She snapped, and Santana glared at her.

"We'd conserve water, and you wouldn't even hear u-" Santana started to argue, before Brittany whispered into her ear and walked out.

"Brittany, I mean it!" Quinn shouted, the girls running out of the room and upstairs. Smacking her palm against her forehead, she looked over at Kurt with a weary expression.

"Like rabbits," She mumbled, and Kurt shrugged.

"Least they didn't give you sex toys for Christmas," He replied, and Quinn's eyes flew open.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was."

Quinn was about to say something, but stopped short and cocked her head to the side.

"I WAS FUCKING SERIOUS!" Quinn yells as she runs up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Kurt looked down at his sticky chest, and around the room.

"How am I going to survive break," He mused, picking up a cushion and throwing it back onto the couch and sitting down. He ran a hand through his now ruined hair, before repeating, "How am I going to survive."

* * *

><p>Hey guys! Hope you had a great New Years, and that 2012 has been treating you pretty alright so far. Now, I have some kindasorta bad news. I'm taking an SAT Subject Test in May for US History, and because I won't be able to take the AP course offered at my school (it's offered only during zero period), I basically decided to take the test this year and just do a crash course on my own for AP US History. lolme. But, knowing me, I'll just procrastinate like a bitch and give you guys stuff to read! Yay, me being a procrastinator! Anyways, yeah. That's all. Also, no BIOTA like scene here. This was running long already, and I really wanted to get this up to you guys by tonight. Also, I have another Puckurt story up as a Dear John AU. Just to put that out there. Anyways, I'm out~<p>

-Lori


	6. Chapter 6

A/N : So this took me a lot of time, I know, and I had to rewrite it several times before I got it just right. School sucked the life right out of me, but I've got a good handle over everything right now! This is a lot longer than the other chapters, which I'm hoping makes up for everything. It jumps around during winter break, but you learn get some back story as it goes on. And um, happy late as hell valentines day everyone? God I suck. Anyways, here it is, and thanks for reading!

_**Chapter Six - The Unholy Trinity and Peach Schnapps**_

Kurt looked around the elegant and made up room, a bit surprised that Judy Fabray had gone to such trouble for a Christmas dinner that had originally been for two. He could obviously tell Quinn was thinking the same thing, from her strained expression, but before he could say anything to her, Judy had sat him down and told him that the ham would be out in just a second and that she would have Quinn help her get everything else out to the table.

And that's exactly how Kurt ended up sitting at the far end of a longer than necessary dinner table, with Judy taking special care to cut the ham just right, and Quinn looking down at her lap with a small sigh escaping out of her every other few minutes.

It was going to be Quinn's third Christmas without Russel, and Judy's second. And apparently, she wasn't taking it so well. Judging from how Quinn was responding, she wasn't either.

"Kurt?"

Kurt blinked, and noticed that Judy had cut nearly half of the huge ham into identical, thin slices. She was now sitting down next to him, and smiled brightly before clapping her hands together.

"Alright, time for grace!" She breathed out, and Quinn flinched. Kurt couldn't help but cringe a bit, and Judy looked at the two teenagers, her smile wavering.

"W-what's wrong?" Judy asked, and Quinn sighed for the umpteenth time that night.

"Kurt... Kurt doesn't say grace mom," Quinn mumbled, and Judy blinked.

"Oh, well... That's quite alright. We can just have a small moment of quiet then and thank whomever we believe in for this wonderful food, right?" Judy said with a tired smile, and Quinn looks like she's about to argue, when Kurt quickly nods and looks down at the table.

Kurt can hear Judy whisper softly under her breath, and can't help but close his own eyes and take a deep breath. She had invited Kurt over when Quinn had told her that he was home alone for the holidays, and Kurt was a bit happy to get the invitation. Santana was having a Christmas party with her whole family (extended included), while Brittany was celebrating it with her parents in Columbus with her grandmother. While Kurt would never have admitted it aloud, it was a bit lonely at his house whenever the girl's weren't over. All he could think of was how empty the house had felt the first Christmas him and his dad had when his mom passed away. It wasn't something he wanted to be reminded of, really. But, seeing how strained it was between Quinn and Judy right now, he wasn't sure if sitting at home and cooking for one would have been all too bad.

Judy lifted her head, and Kurt immediately sat up straighter in his chair.

"Well, since Kurt is the guest, how about you serve yourself some ham first?" Judy added, and Kurt nods before reaching to pick up ham with his fork. Meanwhile, Quinn spooned some mashed potatoes on her plate (and added a lot of bacon crumbles on it, Kurt noted with a silent laugh), and Judy served herself steamed vegetables. Pretty soon, all one could hear was utensils hitting plates, and the occasional mumble to pass a dish.

Kurt broke the silence after eating a few bites of everything on his plate, saying, "This is an amazing dinner Judy."

Judy smiled in his direction. "Thank you, I'm glad you like it," She said, and took a sip of her wine, before asking, "So, what classes do you take Kurt?"

"Erm," Kurt said, swallowing the last of the ham he had been chewing on. "Calculus, AP Biology, AP U.S History, AP Language, Advanced Guitar, and Genetics."

Judy nodded, and looked over at Quinn with a fond smile.

"My, you all are so intelligent," Judy commented, before she laughed softly. "AP didn't even exist as an option back in my day. It's nice seeing young people so interested in their futures."

"Mom, pass the salad please," Quinn interrupted, and Judy handed the bowl right over to her.

"So, have a girlfriend?" Judy casually asked, and Quinn's eyes bugged out, just as Kurt choked a bit on his apple cider.

"E-excuse me?" He choked out, and Judy looked genuinely confused.

"Do you have a girlfriend Kurt? Or is it complicated, because I remember just how complicated things were for a while for Qunnie," Judy said, and Quinn looked sick to her stomach. Kurt swallowed, and shook his head.

"No, no girlfriend," Kurt admitted, and all he can do is hope that she won't ask exactly why.

"Really?" Judy looked legitimately surprised, and Kurt can't help but want to palm smack himself in the forehead. "But you're such a handsome young man an-"

"Mom, he's gay, drop it," Quinn gritted out through her teeth, and Judy's eyes and mouth popped wide open.

"O-oh," Judy breathed out, before wringing her hands. Kurt closed his eyes, patiently waiting for the commencement of insults and threats to get the hell out. Instead, he opened them to see Judy sip some more wine (a lot more tan she had been sipping a few moments before, but she still seemed fairly calm). "Well, do you have a b-boyfriend?"

Quinn glared at her mother, while Kurt laughed. She looked at him, her face clearly asking if he was insane.

"Sorry, it's just- That's a much better reaction than I had hoped for," Kurt explained, before shaking his head. "No, no boyfriend either."

Judy nodded, and smiled. It looked a bit strained, but it was a smile nonetheless. "Well, to all us single people," She said, raising her cup. Kurt and Quinn followed suit, Quinn observing her mother carefully. Their glasses clanked together, and Kurt quickly finished off his drink.

"Oh, do you want more Kurt?" Judy asked, her eyes having flickered over to see his cup empty. Kurt shook his head, just as Quinn rose from her seat.

"Mom, I have an announcement," Quinn said, her voice shaking. Kurt shot her a questionable look, while Judy obviously didn't notice the change in her daughter's behavior.

"Yes Quinnie?" She asked, and Quinn took a deep breath.

"Mom, I- I'm gay."

Judy had been in the middle of drinking her wine, and Kurt shot a panicked look at Quinn as she began to choke on it. Quinn paled, and put down her own drink and moved towards her mother (who had stood up as soon as she began to choke). But Judy waved her hand, and put another on her chest. Quinn bit her lip, and Kurt couldn't tell if it was Judy telling her to stay away or that she would be okay. Clearly, Quinn was wondering the same thing. Judy began to cough, and Kurt could tell that she was beginning to recover.

"Mom?" Quinn asked quietly, and Judy cleared her throat once her coughing fit had stopped. She closed her eyes, and sighed.

"Lucy Quinn Fabray, it's rude to break such news over the main course," Judy scolded, her voice laced with a wheeze here and there. "Dessert would have been much easier to go down."

"I told her it's rude overall to come out when you have things in your mouth," Kurt snickered out impulsively, and Judy nodded in agreement.

"See, Kurt understands what I'm saying."

"You're both impossible," Quinn said weakly. It was silent for a few moments, the only sound being Judy's somewhat loud breathing and occasional small cough. Kurt fiddled with his napkin as Quinn's mouth stayed in a tense, cautious closed line. Judy finally sighed, and quickly gave her daughter a hug.

"I don't tell you this enough Quinnie, but I do love you," Judy said quietly, kissing the top of Quinn's head. Quinn's face instantly relaxed, and she smiled slightly.

"Love you too mom," She said softly, and Judy nodded. She coughed again, and turned towards Kurt with a frown.

"You'll have to excuse me, I think I may just retire for the night," Judy told him, and Kurt nodded.

"No, it's alright. Thank you the lovely dinner Judy," Kurt said, and Judy's eyes lit up.

"Thank you for gracing us with your presence tonight, Kurt. Go ahead and take home a few slices of cake if you want," She said, before kissing Quinn on the cheek and leaving the room. She slowly made her way up the steps, soon disappearing out of sight. Quinn's face was unreadable, but Kurt could tell she was deep in thought.

"Did you plan on coming out over Christmas dinner?" Kurt asked as he began to pick up the more-or-less empty platters, quirking an eyebrow.

"Not exactly," Quinn confessed. "Well, my mom doesn't think I'm diseased or something, so it's a fairly better outcome than what I had envisioned."

"And what's that, Ms. Fabray?" Kurt asked, and Quinn shrugged.

"I expected her to sit me down and read the bible out loud to me, while wondering why I wasn't burning with God's wrath yet," Quinn snorted out, and Kurt flicked a grape at her.

"So dramatic."

"Says the guy who came out to his dad after a football game where he danced to Beyonce's Single Ladies."

"Just for that I'm taking all of your cake home with me."

"You wouldn't even make it out of the doorway."

* * *

><p>Kurt looked over at Brittany, who was sporting a pink bandage skirt and a loose fitting oxford-esque white shirt, and wrinkled his nose.<p>

"It's a bit plain," He quickly commented, and Santana rolled her eyes.

"What do you suggest then Baby Teeth?" Santana asked, obviously bored. Brittany looked at her with a pout, which immediately made Santana sigh and go back to reading her magazine.

"Well," Kurt said, quickly looking over Brittany and then at the portions of the store he could see from the fitting rooms. His eyes quickly zoomed in on a particular rack, and he held up a finger. "Be right back."

Santana looked up from her magazine, and turned to Brittany, grinning. "Does this mean we can make out in the dressing room now?" She asked, batting her eyelashes. Brittany grinned for a second, but it immediately fell when she remembered what happened the other day.

"You know what Kurt said," Brittany reminded her girlfriend, "He can't keep walking in with accessories for me or you while we're making out or using out the new toy."

Santana's face darkened at the mention of Kurt and his repeated offense of walking in on her and her girlfriend in various forms of undress during their trips at the mall. "Don't even remind me. I was so horny, I wanted to kick him in the balls and lock the door shut."

Brittany laughed, and Santana smiled at the sound of it. "Rain check for later babe?" She asked sweetly, and Santana rolled her eyes playfully while nodding, going back to reading the magazine just as Kurt came back. He held up a canary yellow bowed belt, as well as a simple teal blue belt.

"Which one?" Kurt asked, and Brittany looked at both. She put a lithe finger on her lips, trying to decide which would look better. Once she realized she couldn't seem to make up her mind, she looked over at Santana.

"San, which one?" Brittany frowned, her finger making the words slur out a bit. Santana looked up lazily from her magazine, paid both belts a second of her attention, before looking back down.

"Which ever one that's faster to take off," Santana decided, and Brittany couldn't stop herself from giggling as Kurt let out a frustrated breath (she did have a valid point).

They ended up leaving the store soon after with the skirt and shirt, as well as the yellow belt, which had a very much accessible snap fastener on it.

Brittany carried the bag happily in one hand, the other being occupied with Santana's. She blew hair out of her face, and waved over at Quinn as soon as they reached the food court, making Santana wave along with her.

"Quinn!" Brittany called out, and Quinn looked up from her phone, slipping it back into her pocket and grinning when she saw the look on Kurt's face.

"Oh, keep smiling and laughing now Quinn, but it's your turn the next three to watch over these two and make sure they don't get kicked out for indecent exposure," Kurt snapped, and Quinn snorted.

"That's assuming Santana doesn't do something stupid and reckless that gets her kicked out in the first place," She pointed out, and Santana smirked.

"Nice to see my reputation is so highly ranked," Santana said, before tugging on Brittany's wrist gently. "Come on, let's go get some Five Guys and pretend to flirt with the cashier and then kiss in front of him at the pick up counter before the line gets filled with assholes who definitely do not need to be eating fast food."

* * *

><p>From : Santana<br>To : Britt-Britt, Porcelain, Lucy  
>bitches – party osu tonight<p>

From : Kurt  
>To : Brittany, Santana, Quinn<br>What? I thought it was going to be movie night at my place tonight- Also who's Lucy?

From : Brittany  
>To : Unicornfriend, Best Dolphin, New Dolphin<br>san I hope you didnt tell tubs  
>oh and lucy is new dolphin<p>

From : Quinn  
>To : Bitch, Britt, Kurt<br>Santana I will punch you in the face.

From : Santana  
>To : Britt-Britt, Porcelain, Lucy<br>calm urself lucy

From : Kurt  
>To : Brittany, Santana, Quinn<br>Wait, at Ohio State?  
>…<p>

From : Quinn  
>To : Bitch, Britt, Kurt<br>calm yourself Maria Luz

From : Brittany  
>To : Unicornfriend, Best Dolphin, New Dolphin<br>kurt is this about you and bambi and ms pillsbury?

From : Santana  
>To : Britt-Brit, Porcelain, Lucy<br>o right, I forgot all about hummels upchuck sophomore yr  
>no but srsly whos in I need to know<br>also lucy I will cut u

From : Quinn  
>To : Bitch, Britt, Kurt<br>count me in, my mom's out on some retreat and won't be back for a week  
>awh, I love you too<p>

From : Brittany  
>To : Unicornfriend, Best Dolphin, New Dolphin<br>quinn that's my unicornfriend, get ur own  
>also i'm in but tubs has to stay home<br>he's cold ham from ecstasy

From : Quinn  
>To : Bitch, Britt, Kurt<br>…. Britt, you mean cold turkey?

From : Brittany  
>To : Unicornfriend, Best Dolphin, New Dolphin<br>no quinn i'm not feeding him cold turkey that's gross and mean

From : Santana  
>To : Britt-Britt, Porcelain, Lucy<br>HUMMEL U ALIVE OR

From : Kurt  
>To : Brittany, Santana, Quinn<br>You guys can go ahead, I'll just stay home and watch some movies.

From : Santana  
>To : Porcelain<br>no ur getting drunk and having a good time  
>and not think about you know who<p>

From : Kurt  
>To : Santana<br>You know who?

From : Santana  
>To : Porcelain<br>guitar – u sleep talk sometimes and i'm a light sleeper

From : Kurt  
>To : Brittany, Santana, Quinn<br>On second thought. Where we meeting up?

* * *

><p>Kurt blew on his fingers before rubbing them together, just as Santana finally walked out of her house. Her coat was buttoned up nice and tight, but judging from the view of her long legs, she chose a very, very short skirt to wear the night.<p>

"Thank God," Quinn mumbled from the drivers seat, just as Brittany opened the door for Santana to slide in next to her in the back. Kurt let out a sigh of relief when Quinn's car came roaring back to life, and the heat came out in full blast.

"Oh shut up, I was talking my rents into letting us stay at the apartment over there instead of at Manny's," Santana said as she held up the keys, shaking them.

"Isn't yours better than his?" Quinn asked, and Santana grinned.

"Pays off to not blow up our garage by doing stupid Manny like shit," Santana told her, before kicking Kurt's seat. "We're staying at an apartment my parent's have set up for me for next year, as a heads up."

"So long as it's not some barren wasteland of an apartment, fine with me," Kurt shrugs, and Santana laughs.

"Oh no, I force Manny to stock it up every other week," Santana said, before turning her attention to her phone. Quinn looked over at Kurt with a weak smile.

"Welcome to the unholy trinity," She said, before frowning. "This just puts off the whole trinity now-"

"How about we be gay squared," Brittany shouted from the back, "or maybe the unholy unicorns!"

"How about we stick to unholy trinity and call teen gay up there our unholy friend," Santana mumbled, tapping out a new text on her phone.

"Excellent point." Quinn nodded, and began the half hour drive to the Ohio State Lima campus.

* * *

><p>Santana helped Brittany out of her coat as Kurt shrugged his own off, hanging it up on one of the many hooks that the entrance housed (who knew a fraternity house could be so organized?). Quinn had already gone in search of Manny, and Kurt took out his phone to check on some texts. He found a few from his friends, wishing him a happy new year and saying how they couldn't wait to see him after the break. After replying to each of them, he shot a text to his parents wishing them a happy new year, and then one telling Finn to not get too drunk. He was about to call the goof ball to see if he was off or on campus, when Quinn came back with a male version of Santana.<p>

Kurt quickly put his phone away, and blinked. He looked just like Santana, save for the obvious scruff he was sporting, the height difference, and the general male anatomical differences. But other than that, you could tell he was a Lopez.

"Hey little sis," Manny said with a grin, grabbing Santana and pulling her into a crushing hug. Kurt heard Santana let out a few choice words as Manny squeezed the life out of her, but also heard her mumble out a 'missed you too'. Followed by 'asshole'.

"Good evening ladies," Manny drawled out, waving his hand at Brittany and Quinn. Both rolled their eyes, but smiled. He then turned to face Kurt, and something changed. Kurt knew it.

"And... This must be Kurt," Manny said carefully, his eyes shifting from Kurt, to the doorway, and back to Kurt. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Kurt responded back with a nod, and Santana frowned.

"Manny..." She started, and Manny soon turned towards her, mumbling out something. Santana replied back harshly, and Kurt realized they were talking in Spanish. He looked to Quinn and Brittany helplessly, and both of them shrugged.

"They do this a lot," Quinn filled in for him, and Brittany looked in a daze.

"I know some Spanish – I think they're talking about sausages and frosting," She said, just as Manny said something that Kurt was pretty sure would be beyond rude in any language. Quinn sighed, and shrugged.

"We don't intervene unless it gets physical or we hear our own names mixed in," She told Kurt, before hooking her arm through his. "Come on, let's go look for some drinks before the huge ten o'clock crowd comes and we're left with shitty beer."

Kurt followed along, and grabbed a Pepsi for himself. He saw Quinn fill up a red cup with ice and lemonade, before pouring something else he didn't quite know. He looked at her confused, and she grinned.

"Peach schnapps. The best stuff on Earth," She said with a serious look on her face. She held it out the Kurt. "Try it, it's seriously the best."

With a shrug, Kurt drank some, and instantly, his eyes widened.

"This. And," He sputtered out, settling with, "Holy shit."

"Truer statement has never been heard," Quinn smirked, before making another cup identical to the one before, but with another thing in it. She handed it to Kurt, nudging him. "Try this."

There was a bitter flavoring laced into the drink this time, but the peach and lemonade flavour wasn't overpowered by it. If anything, it gave it a bit of a kick. He looked at Quinn expectantly, and she held up the bottle.

"Smirnoff." At Kurt's still confused expression, she kindly added, "Vodka."

Kurt looked at the bottle, to his cup, and back to the bottle.

"If this turns out as badly as sophomore year, I am going to hold you personally responsible," Kurt pointed out, and Quinn just grabbed him by the wrist and trudged him to the next room.

"Will I also be personally held accountable if you have an amazing night?" She asked, and Kurt closed his eyes, pretending to think.

"Let's see how everything plays out, and I'll tell you in the morning," He said, and she shook her head.

"Afternoon," She corrected him, and before Kurt could say anything, Manny interrupted them.

"Mi herman- San wants to see you guys," Manny said, nursing his jaw with a napkin of what appeared to be full of ice in one hand and a cup of what smelled like to be tequila in the other. "Nice meeting you Kurt."

Quinn watched as Manny quickly left to another part of the house, and her brows furrowed.

"Come on, I want to know what happened," Quinn mumbled under her breath, and Kurt led the way back to the couple. Brittany was frowning with a Sprite in hand, and Santana was busy gulping down her own drink to notice Kurt and Quinn showing up.

"She punched him," Brittany said before either of them could ask anything, and added, "She won't tell me either, so I don't think you'll get much either."

Quinn scowled, and looked at Santana.

"Couldn't wait for me to come back to start another fight?" She groaned out, and Santana shrugged.

"Long story short?" She said, taking a quick swig from her cup. "Manny was just being a meddling asshole again."

Quinn obviously didn't look too convinced that that was the only reason Santana had punched her brother, but she didn't press the matter. She had been through way too many of the Lopez's short fights. They were always big and ended up with one or both of them being hurt, but they were always short-lived and laughed off in the end.

"Come on, I hear Matt managed to score the same DJ from the black light party we crashed over the summer, who was over the fucking top," Santana mentioned, and Brittany's face instantly lit up.

"Really?" She said as she began to jump up and down, and that broke Santana's bad mood. She smiled, and nodded.

"Yep. Come on, I remember how much you loved him," Santana laughed, and Brittany quickly walked to some other part of the house. Santana left right with her, leaving Quinn and Kurt to watch them with stupid smiles on their faces.

"You know-" they both started to say, and they both began to laugh.

"They're good for each other," Kurt said softly, smiling as he watched Brittany kiss Santana just as they walked out of sight. Quinn nodded, smiling herself.

"They're good for each other," She repeated, agreeing with Kurt. She drank the last of her spiked lemonade, and looked over at Kurt. He shook his cup, the sound implying all it had in it was lonely, lonely ice cubes. Quinn grinned.

"Want to play bartender?" She asked, and Kurt shook his head.

"How about we just get some more of the peach snap and vodka stuff, and then walk around?" Kurt proposed, and Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Schnapp, Kurt. Also, already itching to ditch the lemonade and going straight with alcohol? Kurt, this is why Bambi happened," Quinn teased, and Kurt glared at her.

"Oh shut up," He growled as he went to go serve himself another drink, Quinn right on his heels.

"So I'm guessing you're playing try-all-the-alcohol tonight?" Quinn asked, and Kurt turned to look at her. She saw a mischievous glint in his eyes, and wasn't sure if she should feel uneasy about it.

"No, much simpler than that. I'm playing lets-see-where-tonight-takes-me."

* * *

><p>Kurt snorted through his laughter as Quinn channeled what he could only liken to a deer caught in headlights look. A very attractive girl had shown up and offered to get her a drink (which Quinn had timidly agreed to – they both agreed that the chances of said girl spiking it with something was slim while still laughing over a guy who showed up wearing a chicken suit), and then proceeded to ask her to dance after they talked for a good ten minutes nonstop. Quinn looked at Kurt as she stood up, and he waved her off.<p>

"Go on," He laughed out, and Quinn lit up. She let the girl (Andy was her name apparently) drag her through the throng of people that crowded the room. Stretching his arms out clumsily, Kurt decided to go and find someone. Maybe Brittany. Or Santana. Or. He gasped. Maybe he could find both Brittany and Santana. Grinning from ear to ear, he quickly got up, and proceeded to sit right back down.

"Bad idea to get up suddenly," He mumbled to himself, holding onto the table next to him as he began to slowly make the journey to a standing position. Once he was certain he wasn't going to suddenly keen over and die, Kurt stretched as well as he could in the crowded room. After he accidentally swatted at someone's ass, he made quick to get out of there.

"I don't even like girls, sorry!" Kurt apologized, letting his feet take him anywhere. The music was loud and clear, but in his sluggish mind, it became background noise when his sights set on getting something else to drink.

Left, right, left, right, he thought to himself as he tried to make sure he wouldn't trip over his own feet, giggling at himself when he finally made it to the room where all the drinks were. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth to the side as he looked at everything on the table. Cheap beer (which was gross, might he add). Some marshmallow flavored vodka that looked questionable. An empty tequila bottle. More empty bottles of alcohol. Frowning, he picked up the bottle of peach schnapp, to find it empty of even a drop of the liquid. He let the bottle roll onto the table, and began mumbling about how everything sucked, when more people began to crowd around the table suddenly.

Kurt's eyes widened, and he wondered where all of these people were coming from. Where they from the other room? Where they following him? Frowning, he stumbled out, and almost tripped over a coat rack. He looked at the rack, and frowned.

"Sorry," he told it, and patted it gently. Squinting, he realized that he was where the door to outside was. Something called like. A mud room? Do fraternity houses have mud rooms? Kurt's thought raced around slowly, but quick enough to make him confused.

The door opened at that exact moment, and a few people came inside, chatting about how the ball was due to drop in less than ten minutes. Kurt wasn't sure what ball was going to drop, and why they were so excited about it, but the sudden burst of cool, crisp air made everything better somehow. Quickly (or as quickly as he could without the world spinning too fast for him to function), he got his coat, and stuck his arms through it as fast as he could manage, and opened the door wide open.

It was snowing. The sight of it made his breath catch, and he couldn't help but stand in the doorway for longer than necessary. After someone shouted at him to 'shut the damn door', he quickly closed it with a loud, piercing bang. He normally would have cringed at how loud the sound was, but right then and there, he was too busy acting like a five year old from Florida seeing snow for the first time in person.

He tentatively took a step out from the porch, and he heard the snow crunch under his shoes. He smiled, and closed his eyes. It was strangely quiet out here (much more quieter than it was in the house anyways), and the cold could barely be felt. Kurt felt warm and bubbly and ten times of awesomeness, and the cold wasn't bringing him down a bit.

There were a few select people here and there smoking and talking, but most were inside celebrating New Years Eve with booze and music in the warm.

"Oh," Kurt said softly. "That's what they were talking about. The New Year Ball."

With a shrug, he sat down on the stoop, and wondered how long it would take for him to get cold. He closed his eyes, and decided to challenge himself.

"One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi, Four Mississippi, Five Mississippi," Kurt counted off, his head going from side to side as he did so. He opened his eyes when he hit five, and was disappointed. About what, he didn't exactly know.

"Let's try that again. Six Mississippi, Seven Mississippi, Eight Mississippi," Kurt mumbled, and he heard the crunch of snow. Frowning, he chose to wait for his count to ten to open his eyes. Maybe it was Quinn. "Nine Mississippi, Ten Mississippi."

He opened his eyes, and laughed.

"Jesus," He choked out, cracking up.

"Nope, sorry to disappoint," Noah said with a smile, and Kurt tried to sober up. He swore he did. But just the thought of him trying to sober up when he had drunk so fucking much made him go back to laughing like a hyena all over again.

"I must have had some strong stuff to be seeing you here," Kurt said out loud to himself once he calmed down, still breathing heavily. "I wonder if I should be particularly worried."

Noah looked at him with an amused expression, before remembering just why he had stopped and stared for a good five minutes before he had grown the balls to come over and talk to Kurt.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, and Kurt sighed dramatically.

"It's New Years Eve," He replied with, before looking at Noah. "What are you doing here?"

"It's New Years Eve," Noah said, and Kurt nodded.

"See, same page here," Kurt laughed out, and Noah laughed too. He could feel the alcohol in his system start to take true effect, but when compared to Kurt, he was a pretty well functioning person... On second thought, he thought as he blinked several times and things got kinda shaky, I might not be.

"So I'm guessing Manny invited you and the unholy trinity," Noah asked, and Kurt nodded.

"Yep. Santana punched him in the face."

That grabbed some of Noah's attention, but he had seen Manny walking around with an ice pack and a huge cup of tequila earlier, so he couldn't be that bad off.

"He was nursing a nice cup of tequila earlier, so I think he's alright," Noah sighed, and Kurt nodded.

"Probably the whole bottle later on."

"Maybe the whole table."

"That would explain the crap supply of alcohol left for me to prey on."

"Or maybe you drank it all."

Kurt's mouth drew into a tight line, but before Noah could say anything else, he began to laugh hysterically.

"You're probably right, oh God," Kurt laughed out, just as the front door opened suddenly. Kurt jumped up from his position and then fell onto his back on the snow, and Noah could only look at the whole situation, horrified.

"Kurt, you ok?" Noah asked frantically, hopping the steps two at a time down. Kurt's head raised, and all Noah could hear was a short, wheezing sound. Oh shit, don't tell me like puncture his lungs like that one guy off of _1,000 Ways to Die_, Noah thought, running a hand through his mohawk when he finally got to the bottom of the steps. He paused. No. It was laughter. Kurt was laughing.

"Snow broke my fall," Kurt said with a cheeky smile, and Noah shook his head.

"Come on, before you catch hypothermia or something," Noah warned him, and Kurt pouted.

"Or something," He pointed out, and Noah rolled his eyes.

"Not anything you'd want. Come on. Up and at 'em," Noah said, sticking his hand out for Kurt to latch onto for leverage. Kurt did latch onto it; but instead of hopping back onto his feet, he pulled Noah down right next to him and kind of on top of him.

Jesus, he is stronger than I thought, was all Noah could think as the cold began to seep through his clothing. He turned to look at Kurt, glaring, but his harsh facial expression melted away as soon as he saw just how amazing Kurt looked mid-laugh. And how amazing his laugh sounded.

"You suck," He mumbled, and Kurt nodded.

"That's what I've been told," Kurt sighed out, and Noah didn't know if he meant the literal form of the word or not, and holy shit that was hot. He was glad he was lying on a ground full of snow at that point, because fuck him if his drunken mind wasn't running in a certainly dirty direction. Trying to derail it, he took his phone out, and looked at the time.

_11 : 59 _

_12 : 00 _

Kurt looked over at the source of bright light, and all that registered in his mind was it was midnight. January first, of the new year. He looked over at Noah, and bit his lip.

"Happy New Year," He whispered softly, and Noah turned to look at Kurt. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before, but all of a sudden, his eyes strayed to the pale white skin of Kurt's neck. Or, what would have been the pale white skin of his neck. It was covered up by the scarf. The scarf. The scarf he had given him for Christmas.

The scarf that had taken him more than a total of five hours to find. The present that had nagged at him even worse than his nana had when he let Sara fall down and bruise her knee when they visited her. The thing that he had tried to nonchalantly pass off as just a gift, when he knew it wasn't. The thing that had made Andy lecture at him for an hour about how it was just a damn gift, and wasn't something to get hung over with if Kurt did end up wearing it sometime in the near future. Like he was at that exact moment.

"Happy New Year," Noah said under his breath, his fingers skimming the skin peeking out from the scarf, before idly touching the silky material of the scarf. Kurt's heart skipped a beat as he felt Noah's fingertips brush against his neck, settling on top of the scarf he had given him for Christmas.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he knew everything was about to change. He bit his lip one last time, before touching Noah's hand, which was still poised near his neck.

"Tell me if this isn't okay," Kurt whispered, watching Noah's eyes narrow a bit in confusion, just as he leaned in. His heart hammered in his chest, and everything in his brain was telling him this was the worst idea in the world.

But, he was throwing caution to the wind. It was like guessing something would become the it trend in the fashion world, or wearing something bold enough to stand out like red flashing lights in a black and white world. All things Kurt had done in the past before. So why was this making him feel like his heart was on overdrive, making him feel like his stomach was doing back flips?

It was as soon as his lips touched Noah's that he knew. Fashion he knew fairly well. Adapting to be resilient enough to withstand slushie after slushie? He had gotten that done by the end of his first semester at McKinley. He knew how salvage most articles of clothing from the horrors of stains. But this?

This was uncharted territory for him. Everything about it. He had never had a boyfriend. The only kiss he ever had gotten was from Karofsky, and it wasn't even his choice. It had happened, but it had never counted as his first kiss in his book. Never. Add in the factors that Noah was a good four, five years older than him, and that he was still very much his teacher? Seemed like the very definition of uncharted territory.

He could detect alcohol on Noah's lips, but he also could taste something like spearmint, along with something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. Kurt settled on just labeling it as tasting like Noah, since it wasn't exactly something he would ever really be able to describe. He sighed into the kiss as he felt Noah's arm wrap around his waist, and he let his hands settle on his shoulders, feeling the firm muscle there.

Kurt opened his mouth slowly and tentatively, letting his tongue softly swipe against Noah's bottom lip. He let out a small indignant sound when Noah immediately responded, and oh my God, that felt amazing. Everything seemed to be rushing around him. He could practically hear his heart pounding in his chest, and it didn't help that he could feel the same going on in Noah's chest.

Noah was definitely on top of him at this point, his hands now holding Kurt's face. He registered the fact that people were watching, and he swore he heard someone cat whistle, but it didn't matter. Not right then and there. The only thing that mattered was that Kurt was fucking kissing him, and it wasn't a dream.

"Yeah Puck, get it!"

Kurt laughed through the kiss, and placed one last kiss on Noah's lips before pulling away and lying down on the snow. Noah watched his chest rise and fall as Kurt tried to get his breathing back to normal, and realized that his skin was only a few shades off from the snow in the moonlight.

"Let's get out of here," Kurt mumbled, and Noah couldn't agree more.

* * *

><p>Noah fumbled with the keys as Kurt giggled, and Noah whined.<p>

"Kurt, I can't open the door if you keep doing that," Noah mumbled as Kurt began to move from his neck up to his ear, and he could feel him pout through his kisses.

"No fun," Kurt whispered against his skin, but nonetheless backed off. Noah watched him bounce on his heels out of the corner of his eye, and shook his head as he began going through his keys. Choir room key. Choir room closet key. Choir room office key. Universal school key. Mail box key. Old house key. And, aha. He found it. His apartment key. He shakily tried to get it into the actual lock, but then Kurt started doing that thing with his mouth again, and mother of God. Somehow, the key finally made it into the keyhole, and with a simple turn of the wrist, the door flew open.

Noah jiggled the key out of the keyhole, and barely had enough time to throw it into key bowl he kept next to the door when Kurt shut the door quickly, and began to attack Noah's mouth. Their teeth clanked together, but they kept on kissing, their tongues exploring and fighting for dominance. Noah began to move Kurt in the direction of his room, and Kurt happily obliged.

Their hands drunkenly groped nearly every part of each other, and clothes began coming off. First it was Noah's shirt, then Kurt's scarf, and after some work, Kurt's shirt. Their shoes had been kicked off long before they made it to Noah's bedroom door, and their socks hastily taken off when they had taken a short break to breathe.

Kurt had asked breathlessly which room was Noah's exactly, and when Noah had pointed it out, pinned him to the door and began to trail kisses down his neck, and across his shoulders. Noah moaned, and began to thrust his hips against Kurt's.

"Oh my God," Kurt groaned out as he felt Noah grind into his cock, and he blindly reached for the doorknob as he began to suck on the skin where Noah's neck and shoulders met. Suddenly, he felt the door push open, and he didn't question it. He could feel his cell phone vibrate in his pocket, but he ignored it as he felt Noah's hand begin to unbutton and unzip his pants, his head lolling back as Noah began to leave marks of his own. He let his fingernails lightly scratch up Noah's spine, firm but soft flesh meeting him wherever he touched.

He felt him tug his pants down, and mentally chastised himself for wearing the tightest pair of pants he wore. It was a slow process, but he quickly began to kick them off once they were down to his knees, wrinkles be damned. Kurt heard a sharp breath come out of Noah, before he realized. He was naked. And pretty much hard as can be.

Kurt moaned into Noah's shoulder when he felt a slick hand close around his cock (he wondered just how the hell he had managed to get his hand that way, but soon enough all he could think 'god' and 'that feels great'), and couldn't help but think just how _different _it felt from his own. It was the same motion and all, but the differences were extraordinary. Noah's hands weren't nearly as smooth as Kurt's, and they were much bigger. But he had a feeling even if Noah's hand were just as soft as his own, and just as small, it still would have felt so much more different.

"You look so beautiful right now," Noah said as he began to graze his teeth over Kurt's neck, sucking and kissing every inch of his skin. Kurt could only let out a laugh interlaced with a moan as he felt Noah gently fondle his balls with his hand not occupied with making Kurt writhe and moan like a porn star.

"Mhmm, I can't wait to watch you as I blow you," Kurt slurred out as he began to thrust his hips into Noah's closed fist.

"Jesus," was all Noah could say before smashing his lips onto Kurt's, his hand working up and down, twisting gently and squeezing here and there. Kurt shook as he felt himself get closer and closer to the brink, holding on tightly to Noah as his knees began to give out under him. It was when Noah swiped his thumb over the head of his cock that he felt himself snap.

"Noah," Kurt gasped as he came all over the both of them, latching onto Noah as he rode out his orgasm. He babbled out the same words over and over again as Noah continued to fondle his balls and stroke his dick, most of which were Noah's name. Once he was sure he could trust his own legs to stand on their own, he pulled Noah into a kiss, pulling him down onto the bed with him.

It groaned under the sudden application of weight, but Kurt ignored it as he unbuttoned and unzipped Noah's pants, glad that he never wore pants that were tight enough to be problematic in times like these.

"K-Kurt," Noah moaned out as Kurt shucked his pants off, casting them off to the side where the rest of his clothes were laying. Kurt looked up expectantly, and Noah cleared his throat.

"You... You don't have to if you don't want to," He said softly, and Kurt kissed the stretch of skin between his boxers and belly button.

"I want to," was the last thing Noah heard before Kurt pulled his boxers down.

Kurt looked at Noah's cock, and could only think that it was pretty big. Like, not big big like freaky porno big, but still kind of big. He licked his lips as he watched the tip of it ooze pre-come, and smiled when he felt Noah shudder under him. Slowly, he let his fingers closer around it, and he could feel just how _hot_ and hard it was. He let his hand go up and down, his thumb tracing out a vein.

Noah forget every sensible word he knew at that moment, and could only let a low 'fuck' when he felt Kurt lower his mouth onto him. He closed his eyes as his hips canted upwards slightly, meeting more and more of Kurt's mouth. It was hot, wet, and ten types of perfection. His tongue swirled around the head, his hand making up for whatever wasn't in his mouth.

He could feel himself already start to unravel, and tried to push Kurt off of him, but the brunette slapped his hand away and continued to bob up and down on his cock, which just brought him closer and closer to the edge. Kurt picked up his pace, and began to brush against Noah's balls, traveling to massage the inside of his thighs.

Kurt hollowed out his cheeks as he continued to bob his head, taking more and more of Noah in with each bob. The only warning was his cock twitching, and soon enough, all Kurt could taste was bitter come. He swallowed down most of it, unable to do much else really, and could only daintily wipe the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand before settling down next to Noah.

He was still recovering from his orgasm, and Kurt's eyes started to droop as he buried his face into the crook of his neck.

"That was fun," He slurred out, curling into Noah's side. "Very fun."

Noah could only agree with a small hum, before realizing just how fucking tired he was. He sluggishly gathered up the blanket from the foot of the bed and placed it over the both of them, and laid his head back onto the pillow.

"G'gnight," Kurt mumbled out as he began to quickly fall asleep, "Love you."

Noah couldn't register the significance of what had just been said, seeing how equally drunk and tired he was.

"Love you too," He yawned out as he slowly rolled onto his stomach, one arm splaying out to curl around Kurt's waist. He heard Kurt's breathing even out to a steady and constant rhythm, before falling asleep himself.

* * *

><p>Kurt woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee, and his head pounding. He wondered who in the hell was making coffee, and why his sheets felt different from their normal silky smooth feel, when he realized that there was someone next to him. All he knew was that they were warm and practically amazing to cuddle into, and he began to slowly shuffle towards them, but stopped when he finally realized a heavy arm encircling his very much naked waist, and that the sheets were brushing against his very much naked bottom half. His eyes flew wide open.<p>

He was so not in his room. He was nowhere near his room. He was nowhere near his damn house.

Kurt blinked rapidly as he took in the room around him, and everything came rushing back. Him and the girls coming out to some frat house party for New Years. Him and Quinn seeing how much alcohol they could get through and asking each other trivia questions to test how drunk the other was. Brittany and Santana making out by the entrance when Kurt went in search of a bathroom with Quinn. Quinn disappearing into the crowd with some girl named Andy. Him apologizing to a coat rack, and then Noah, and making out in the middle of a snowy field. Him giggling and kissing Noah at random street corners on their way to his apartment, and him all over him as they got closer and closer to his floor. His clothes falling off on their way to his bedroom. And.

Kurt began to blush as he realized what Noah had done to him last night. What he had done to Noah last night. He felt Noah move next to him, and he almost had a heart attack. What if he woke up, was Kurt's main concern. But, all he did was roll away slightly, his arm untangling itself from Kurt's body.

Looking over at the floor, Kurt could see where his pants were lying, abandoned from the night before. As carefully as he could, he slowly got out of bed, cringing when he heard the bed springs move and make the loudest noise ever. His hand immediately went up to his head, which was pounding and not appreciating all the movement or noise. Hissing a swear under his breath, Kurt tried as quick as he could to put on his jeans, damning himself for wearing such tight jeans.

He scanned the room for his shirt, before realizing that Noah had taken it off of him in the hallway leading to all the rooms. Tiptoeing to the door, he felt the heavy and very much familiar weight of his cell phone in his pocket, and made sure to check it when he got the hell out of there.

He opened the door as quietly as he could, thankful that nothing had squeaked or banged since the bed had practically scared him to death. He pulled the door close just as quietly, and easily found his shirt lying on the floor a few feet from him. He scooped it up as he remembered that his shoes and socks were by the kitchen, and hoped that Manny wasn't going to be a fixture this morning.

Still, he made sure to be as quiet and sneaky as he could be while hungover as fuck as he made his way through the apartment. His eyes were taking in everything, and his mind was comparing how different things looked with actual light. He spotted his shoes right where he had thought they were, and quickly slipped on his socks.

Kurt didn't think to wonder just where the coffee smell was, or to pay attention to the quiet shuffling sound he had heard from the kitchen. All he knew was he had to put his shoes on, get the hell out of there, and have someone pick him up. He internally groaned as he realized the amount of questions he would be getting from the girls, and wondered just how much Santana would know. Or assume.

With his shoes on, and his cell phone and keys accounted for, Kurt made quick to get out, shutting the front door as quietly as he could. He thought he saw something move inside just as the door was about shut, but he shook his head.

"You're a hungover mess Kurt," He reminded himself under his breath, walking as quickly as he could to the elevator, taking out his phone as he pushed the down button. He unlocked it (it took him a few times to get his fingers to cooperate, but he got it done in the end), and saw thirty-two new texts, and thirteen missed calls.

His phone suddenly buzzed alive, and Kurt almost dropped the damn thing. Looking down, he saw an incoming call from Quinn. The elevator doors opened as he hit 'accept', and he sighed as soon as he heard how frantic and tired Quinn's voice sounded.

"Quinn, it's... It's a long story. Can you put Santana on? She'll know where to pick me up," Kurt mumbled as he held the phone five inches away from his ear, his other hand rubbing his temple as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

><p>Manny stirred his sugar and cream into his coffee with a small spoon, leaving the other cup black as it had been brewed. He knew Puck would probably bitch about how his own was nice and sweet while his was shit in a cup, but Manny knew he could easily shut him up with pointing out that he was probably hungover as fuck. He remembered how out of touch Kurt had seemed when he pranced through the living room looking for his shoes, before leaving. He shook his head, wondering just how the kid had managed to miss him on his way out.<p>

He heard the bed springs sound up again, and wondered if his roommate had finally woken up, or was just rolling around his bed in his sleep again, searching for the body that was long gone. Blowing on his coffee, he took a big gulp before picking up the other mug as he walked towards Noah's room, his slippers the only sound that broke the silence in the apartment. He pushed open the door with ease, knowing that Noah's door hadn't been able to close properly since they have moved in and fucked up the door trying to get Puck's bed through it.

He saw his friend lying on his bed with a small smile present on his face, sleep still claiming him. He put Noah's cup of coffee down on the nightstand table, and noted the bottle of lube that was still open next to the alarm clock.

Jesus, he thought, how far did they go?

He was about to find out, he reasoned as he shook Noah awake. He was wondering if he should shoot a short text to Andy, who last he had seen, had been charming the skirt off a pretty attractive blond last night at Matt's party. But, he decided against it, knowing Andy would bring hell up to their apartment at the mere mention of Kurt being anywhere near their apartment. Imagine Noah's room. With a sigh, he shook Puck's shoulder more insistently.

"Puck, get your ass up, we need to have a talk."


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N : Hey there! Hope your Spring Break is going fabulously if you're on it, and if not, you poor bastard, hang in there for your turn. _

_**Chapter 7 – Morning After**_

Santana looked down at her nails as she waited for the light to turn green, trying to make sense of what had managed to happen in the last twenty four hours. With a small yawn, she looked around, tipping her head down slightly to get small glimpses of the world beyond her sunglasses.

Not a lot of people were out on the roads, and she knew exactly why. It was New Fucking Years, and she herself shouldn't even be on the road (granted, it was noon, but that wasn't the point). She should be fucking cuddling with her god damn girlfriend and whispering sweet nothings into her ear and just relaxing. But nope, here she was, picking up her best gay up from a drunken one night stand with a college guy who just so happened to be their teacher.

"Don't I just love my telenovela life," Santana mumbled to herself as she looked up to see the traffic life a nice bright green. After about five seconds of the asshole in front of her not moving, she beeped and opened up her window. "Hey ass fuck, shoulda fucking slept it off."

Closing her window (it _was_ January), she didn't miss the lovely shout of 'bitch' and show of a certain finger. The person gunned the engine and turned, leaving Santana to just smirk and keep driving toward the apartment complex she knew Kurt was waiting at.

She knew that Kurt would be looking for Quinn's sympathetic and lovely face at the driver's wheel, but after a quick inspection of Fabrays face and the toilet, Santana could tell she wasn't fit to drive, none the less do any type of quick movement that would get her out of the fucking bathroom. So, she left her home with Brittany, who had been humming and getting things out to make a whole continental breakfast for everyone. Looking down at her phone, she frowned when she saw a new text. What made it deepen was the name next to it.

From : Manny

To : bitch in crime

pucks awake – get him out of here soon

Scowling, she didn't even bother replying to her idiot of a brother. She was practically fuming by the time she made the right turn into the apartment complex, and was fairly sure steam clouds were rolling off from here by the time she rolled up to where Kurt had been pacing. She clicked the window down, and would normally have smirked and made an inappropriate sex joke on just how wide Kurt's mouth was in surprise at that moment. But, seeing how he looked miserable and like shit, and she was pretty sure she looked about the same, she nodded her head.

"Get in Cabbage Patch Drunk."

* * *

><p>Sitting at the desk (he so did not want to sit on the scene of the crime), Manny stirred his coffee with a pencil, waiting for Puck to say something. Do something. Move or something.<p>

"Drink you idiot," He said after a few moments of Puck staring at the wall in front of him, holding the coffee cup and doing nothing else with it.

Puck blinked before looking down at the cup, as if he didn't even know it had been in his hand to begin with. He tipped his head back and took a sip of the coffee, before violently coughing and bending over slightly. Manny watched as he choked while trying to keep down the black coffee, his lips twitching into a smirk when he received the biggest sign of life from Puck all morning.

"Dick," Puck mumbled before he chugged the rest of the mug down, grimacing the whole time. "Close the curtains while you're at it, Jesus."

"You're Jewish," Manny said, sipping his sweet and tasty coffee.

"You're Roman Catholic, and still have one night stands at least once every two weeks," Noah mumbled, running a hand through his mohawk. Manny snickered at the mention of him being a Roman Catholic (sure, he believed in the big guy upstairs, but the last time he went to a misa with his parents was his freshman year in high school), letting down the blinds all the while, closing the curtains for good measure. He paused when he was done making sure no huge beams of sunlight entered the room, and sighed.

"Bro, I'm sorry," Manny said as he picked up his mug, chugging the last bits of his coffee. He could feel the leftover undissolved sugar grains on his tongue, and wrinkled his face at the suddenly too sweet taste in his mouth. He could hear Puck put down his mug on his nightstand, and leaned against the wall.  
>"For what,"Puck groaned into his pillow, shaking his head. Manny noticed a pair of boxers that he was pretty sure Puck had been walking around the apartment in last night before the party began, and ran his hand through his short hair.<p>

"I'm the one who invited them," Manny pointed out, tugging at bit at his hair before banging his cup down on the bedside table. "I managed to get Santana royally pissed at me, and help screw you up a bit too in the process."

"You're talking too fast again and threw some Spanish in there too I think, and it's worse because I'm hungover," Puck pointed out, before holding his head in his hands. "God, that coffee sucked and didn't even help that much."

"Just know I fucked shit up again."

With a sigh, Puck bunched up the sheets around him, and slowly got up.

"You fuck shit up a lot, but you always fix it in the end," Puck reminded his best friend, before shuffling over to the door and opening it. "Now get out so I can get dressed and we can talk over breakfast. Ring Andy and invite her over, will ya?"

Manny grimaced. " You just want me to have a shit morning, don't you?"

Puck looked at his bed, and shook his head. He could still feel Kurt's lips on his own if he concentrated hard enough, and could still smell him as if they were still lying side by side in each others arms. He could even still hear his breathless laughter when Noah had called him beautiful. "I think I top the cake in the shittiest morning."

Manny frowned, before realizing where his line of vision was. Sighing, he walked out the door, pausing only to throw out, "How about I treat you bitches to Denny's. I don't feel like cooking."

Noah raised an eyebrow at Manny offering to pay for something. Normally, he smooched off of Andy or Noah at restaurants and cafes. "We'll see who had the best morning, and make them pay," Puck decided after a moment, and Manny snorted.

"Andy's turn it is, saw her head home with a pretty blond on her arm" Manny called out behind him as he went to his own room to change into more people friendly clothing. He didn't think Denny's employees would appreciate him showing up in boxers and his raggedy ass class shirt from high school that had sex jokes and all types of horrible graffiti on it that even made Coach Sylvester do a double take on the last day of school. Looking in the mirror, he grinned.

Nah, I'll keep the shirt on, Manny thought to himself as he scanned the floor for a clean pair of jeans.

* * *

><p>Kurt fidgeted in his seat, unable to stand still. He could tell Santana was looking at him a lot more than she was at the road, and it just made him fidget even more. Deciding to go through his phone, he saw a missed call from his parents, two from Finn, quite a couple from Quinn, and a couple of standard Happy New Year texts from glee club. With a tired sigh, he decided to listen to the first voice message on his phone.<p>

"Hey son, I'm guessing you're probably at Quinn's or Santana's. Just wanted to check in on you, and to wish you a Happy New Year!" Kurt smiled at the sound of his dad's voice, and was glad he wasn't worried that he hadn't picked up the phone. "Here, Carole wants to say something to you and- John, get back he-"

"Kurt? Hey sweetie, just calling to say Happy New Year and that I love you. Just remind us if you need any more money. Oh! And go ahead to treat yourself to shopping as our Christmas gift to you. I'm sure you won't go too overboard. Here's your father now." Carole's voice said, the sounds of a party in full swing evident in the background.

"Kiddo? Hey, alright. I'm going to hang up now if the machine hasn't already cut us off yet. Love you. Hey Caro- Of course I'm sure I hung up, I- Oh. Yes honey, I kno-"

Santana had heard most of the message (damn, Hummel's phone was loud), and couldn't help but smile just a bit from how cute it was. Quickly though, she want back to her normal scowl, and turned to look at Kurt.

"Britt's cooking a huge breakfast. Hope you brought your appetite and story telling skills Kurtie, you're going to need them to survive this brunch shit thing," Santana said, and couldn't help but laugh at the grimace on Kurt's face. "If it helps, we need to grill Quinn too. She came home at five this morning."

Kurt gave up on listening to all the voice messages he had and reading through all the texts, and slumped down in his seat. "Nice to know someone had fun last night," Kurt said under his breath.

The car jerked to the side, violently braking in the emergency lane. Letting out a yelp at the feel of his seat belt dig into his chest and catch him mid breath, Kurt turned to glare at Santana.

"How did you even get your god damn permit?" Kurt snapped, but Santana ignored him, put the car in park, and grabbed him by the arm.

"He didn't force you did he?" Santana asked in a low, dark voice, and Kurt was momentarily confused, before realizing what he seemed like he said. He shook his head quickly, but knew that wasn't enough after seeing the murderous look in Santana's eyes.

"No, San," Kurt said softly. Santana studied him, and Kurt blushed a bit.

"I.. It's not that I didn't enjoy what we... Did. And it's not what you think. Or. All of it. But-" Kurt said, his voice getting higher and higher, his face blushing more and more as he thought about the night before. "-things are really screwed up now."

Santana continued to look at him, before letting go of his arm. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel for a minute, before taking the car out of park, and slowly making her way back onto the main road. They were both quiet for the rest of the ride back to San's apartment, and the whole walk to the complex entrance.

Just when they were getting into the elevator, Kurt stopped Santana.

"What?" Santana snapped, and Kurt fiddled with the sleeve of his shirt.

"I- Thanks San," Kurt said, looking down at the floor. "For- for everything."

Santana stiffened when she felt Kurt hug her, but relaxed into the embrace. She patted him on the back, trying to remember how she hugged Brittany. It wasn't that she didn't like hugging other people; but, in all honesty, she didn't really hug anyone but Brittany. It was different. Kurt was a man, after all. Different. But. Nice.

"All I do is surround myself with gays," Santana mumbled, and Kurt looked at her. She shrugged. "What, it's true."

Kurt frowned for half a second, before laughing softly. "Yeah, you're right. And you're the queen of us all."

"That I have no objections to. Now get in peasant, I can smell the pancakes from here."

* * *

><p>"Dragging me to god damn Denny's on New Years Day," Andy grumbled under her breath as she looked down at her menu, manhandling it as she flipped through it. Noah rested linked his hands together on the back of his neck, and shrugged.<p>

"Calm down Moaning Myrtle, jeez- Wait, did you not get some last night or something?" Manny asked as he looked at the drinks menu, and Andy just sighed before putting her menu down.

"We're getting appetizers. Also, I'm not paying this time, I have to pay my due's for second semester and it's a lot more than I expected," Andy said, before rolling her eyes. "No, I did not get some, but I met a wonderful girl thank you very much."

"I thought it was an automatic that we'd get appetizers. Also, me and Manny here will pay." Noah leaned against wall against the booth, wondering who's bright idea it was to give them a fucking booth. He couldn't even lean back comfortably or anything without hitting solid plastic.

"Appetizers are sacred in this friendship, you can not not get them, what the hell. This is like, bro rule number three," Manny mumbled out as he scanned the menu, looking up when he knew what he wanted. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Sorry I offended you, Sir Asshole," Andy commented before putting her own menu down, and smiling slightly. "Her name's Quinn."

Noah straightened up, and looked at Andy.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Andy asked, pinching her cheek and patting it.

"Yeah, it's called puppy love," Manny snickered, which earned him a swatting from Andy.

"Um. What's her last name?" Noah asked, just as the waitress came over for drinks.

"Happy New Year afternoon, and welcome to Denny's. Can I get your drink orders for today?" The waitress asked with a tired smile, and all three of them rattled off their drink orders (orange juice for Andy, a coffee for Manny, and a Dr. Pepper for Noah). After a heated debate over appetizers, they settled on the smothered bacon and cheese fries, chicken strips, and sampler.

Andy placed an elbow on the table, and laid her chin in her hand. "Her name's Quinn Fabray."

It was quiet at the table, and both guys looked at Andy.

"What? My God, you act like you've never seen me smile or something." Andy rolled her eyes, and Noah wrinkled his nose.

"Um, where does she go to school?" He asked, and Andy sighed.

"She's a senior at McKin- Oh, you guys thought I didn't know. Seriously, like, she's been Santana's best friend since how long? Also, unlike you and Manny, I make sure to know when my make out buddy is jail bait or not," Andy laughed out, and Noah flinched. She stopped laughing, her mouth going into a tiny 'o'. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked at Manny.

"Manny," She said sweetly, and Manny could already tell what was coming next. "What did Noah do last night?"

Manny found himself staring into what he could only call the depths of hell. He bit his lip, trying not to say anything. For some odd reason, whenever Andy fixed her fucking signature pout from hell, he always talked. It had been that way since they had become friends, and it had gotten him into a lot more trouble than he'd like to admit.

Don't say anything to Andrea about Kurt, Manny thought to himself. Don't say anything to Andre about Kurt. Don't sa-

"Certainly not Kurt and for the love of God!" Manny blurted out, shouting the last part out as he felt Noah kick his left leg under the table, Andy stabbing him with her heel on the other.

"Bitch," Noah moaned out as he looked down at his placeholder, trying to figure out what was going to come next. He could feel Andy glaring at him, burning holes into his forehead. Manny was too busy slamming his head on the table to play damage control, and Noah knew he didn't have the leverage at all to even get Andy to wait for them to get back to the apartment to talk about it. Just as he thought she was about to start yelling, he heard her sigh. He looked up, to see her shaking her head, her worry lines on full display.

"Noah Elijah Puckerman, what the hell have you done," she asked, propping her head up with her hands.

Looking the out the window next to him, Noah shook his head. "Normally, I can make some cheeky ass line up to say to you when you ask that. But now... I don't know."

Andy's lips clamped together in a tight line, and she opened her menu back up to look for what her main order would be. After a few minutes, she grabbed Manny by the scruff of his neck and tugged him back up into a sitting position.

"You guys will be the fucking end of me," She muttered, before raising an eyebrow at her menu. "Correction, you guys will be the end of me if this delicious looking but probably heart clogging as hell breakfast skillet doesn't kill me first."

The waitress came back and set down the appetizers, took their orders, and headed back to the kitchens to drop them off. They all looked at each other, before Manny dug right in. After that, it was a fight to the finish to get the appetizers. In the end, Andy ended up having the most on her plate, with Noah having the least (he didn't even think grabbing the measly five french fries he managed to get should count).

"I am victorious!" Andy chuckled out before pushing her plate in between her and Noah, who shook his head.

"Cheater," he said, taking a chicken strip and dipping it into the ketchup cup that came with everything.  
>"Pansy asses," Manny said as he chewed his food, causing Andy to glare at him. "Oh, sorry, food in my mouth."<p>

"Dick," Andy muttered as she smacked Manny up the side the head, who made a small indignant noise as he choked a bit on his food.

* * *

><p>Quinn twitched and stiffened as she listened to Brittany cook, letting out deep breaths ever so often. She, Lucy Quinn Fabray, was hungover. She had never been hungover in her life before; but then again, she hadn't drank as much as she did yesterday before either. She had spent the morning after a five hour nap (she could call it a nap dammit, she was hungover) in classic hungover high schooler style. Checked her phone groggily for any important messages, had a nice, long date with the toilet, and took a lot more painkillers than she probably should have.<p>

A particularly loud crash from the kitchen made Quinn groan, and Brittany popped her head in.

"Sorry Q, I usually have Lord Tubbington or San around to help me cook and I keep forgetting, so I drop stuff," Brittany apologized, before frowning and turning towards the door.

"They're here," She sang out before twirling back into the kitchen, doing hell knows what. Quinn adverted her eyes to the door, and soon enough, Santana and Kurt were sluggishly making their way inside. How Brittany does it, I'll never know, Quinn thought to herself.

"Afternoon Luce," Santana called out flippantly before dropping her keys onto the table, and making her way into the kitchen. Judging from the squeal and laughter, she had 'snuck' up on Brittany. Quinn couldn't help but smile softly, but that quickly broke when she heard the sink get filled to the brim with obnoxiously loud pots and pans.

"I see you and noise aren't the best of friends today," Kurt said softly with a smile, and Quinn shook her head.

"We're not even on talking terms right now," She joked halfheartedly, before pointing her chin at the chair next to her. "Sit?"

Kurt nodded, and collapsed onto the chair next to her. They both sat there in silence, listening to the sounds of life coming from the kitchen.

"They sound-" Kurt began to say after hearing Santana giggle, with Quinn cutting him off.

"Married," She finished for him, and they both looked at the kitchen, where Brittany came out carrying a plate piled high with eggs on one side, and bacon on the other. She had flour dusting her face and blond hair, and was in the process of licking what looked like strawberry jam off her lips. Santana followed with a stack of pancakes with a bowl of hash browns, and a tray of condiments. Her hair own black hair was coated in flour, and her cheek had remnants of what Quinn could only guess was a strawberry jam kiss.

"They look like it too," Kurt said, and Quinn laughed. Santana looked at them, confused, and opened her mouth to say something before Brittany poked her to help her set the table.

"Hey, lightweights, eat up," She snapped as soon as they got the platters on the table, Brittany going back to the kitchen to get plates and utensils and cups for everyone. "We need to go over what happened last night, with both of you."

"Oh, yipee," Quinn said sarcastically, rolling her head around to get rid of the huge kink she had developed from sleeping on the floor.

"Story time!" Brittany called out from the kitchen, and Santana smirked.

"Story time," She confirmed.

Brittany came back out with the plates, utensils, and cups piled high on top of each other in one hand, and orange juice in the other. As soon as Kurt finished helping Brittany set everything, it was a fight to the death for bacon. Quinn ended up getting nearly half of what Brittany had cooked, and Santana wasn't trying to save any for Kurt. After a brief fork fight, Brittany split the pile in half for each person, while taking some of Quinn's for herself. It had been between Kurt pouring more orange juice into his cup and Santana finishing her bacon when the question was raised.

"So, where were you two last night?" Brittany asked, folding up her pancake and coating it with syrup. Both Quinn and Kurt looked at each other, and she sighed.

"Fine, I'll go first," She mumbled before beginning to munch on another strip of bacon.

"I met Andy last night – Santana, what's with the face?" Quinn said, stopping when she saw a sour look on Santana's face.

"Why does everything come back to the golden trio, like my God," Santana mumbled, before shrugging. "I'm guessing you mean Andrea Beckinsworth, the girl Puck would have one night stands with like all through high schoo-"

Quinn glared at Santana, and even Brittany frowned. She pinched her girlfriends arm, which made her jump slightly. Santana sighed, knowing that was a bit too bitchy for the situation at hand. "You were saying Luce?"

Quinn grimaced at the mention of Santana's nickname for her, before shaking her head. "Anyways, like I was saying. Me and Kurt had been in that weird room with the impromptu Beer Pong tournament. Andy came by and offered to get me a drink, and Kurt laughed over my facial expression for a good five minutes-"

"She looked like a deer caught in headlights," Kurt contributed, cutting up his pancakes.

"Thank you for the lovely description of my face," Quinn said, taking a brief pause to sip some juice. "So, anyways, she asked me to dance, and Kurt was alright with it, so I ended up dancing with her till the countdown began for midnight. We talked all the while, since these assholes starting counting down from 120 seconds-"

"You should have seen it, girls started dancing on the tables downstairs, taking something off every thirty seconds," Santana smirked, and Quinn snorted.

"That doesn't surprise me. So, we started counting down from ten, like normal people, and-" Quinn continued, blushing more and more. "-and then she kissed me when the we got to zero. Woo hoo, fun, yay, Quinn kissed a girl. Kurt, your turn!"

Kurt glared at her, chewing his pancakes carefully and slowly to buy himself as much time as he could. But, obviously, it didn't matter, seeing how Santana clucked her tongue.

"Fabray, that was like. Your night till twelve-oh-five, twelve-ten tops. You didn't drag your drunk ass here till five. Spill," Santana laughed out, and Brittany shrugged.

"She was probably just doing what we were doing San when we got home, you kno-" She began to say, before Quinn shook her head violently.

"God, we did not have sex, I wasn't that drunk," Quinn yelled, trying to cut off Brittany before she said anything that she definitely did not want to hear. She blushed and moved around in her seat. "We made out for a while in the house, before walking to McDonalds on Eastern Shore Avenue and talking until like four. Then she walked me here."

"That's boring," Santana declared, with Brittany munching on her pancakes happily next to her.

"I don't know, I think it's adorable," Brittany said in between bites.

"Shuddup," Quinn mumbled, her face redder than Kurt had even known was possible.

"I applaud you in your initiation to lesbian-hood," Santana commented, patting Quinn on the shoulder awkwardly from her seat. "Now, it's time to hear the second half of Teen Gay's crazy night out."

"Do I have to," Kurt mumbled, fiddling with his food more than he was eating it. Santana pursed her lips.

"I had to pick Hummel up from a cer-" She began to explain, before Kurt dropped his fork onto the table. Santana paused, and looked at him expectantly.

"Fine, you pushy tyrant," Kurt growled, not daring to look any of the girls in the face while he told of his more than just crazy night. "So, Noah was at the party last nigh-"

"Wait, like, Puckerman?" Quinn asked, and Brittany frowned.

"Gay Shark?" She asked, and Santana nodded.

"Let him finish, and them bombard him with questions," She said, swinging her legs to lay on Brittany's lap. Quinn paled a bit, everything slowly clicking into place.

"You didn't sleep with him, did you?" She hissed, and Kurt's head snapped up so quick she momentarily wondered if he would get whip lash from it alone.

"Course they did," Santana mumbled.

"No, he gave me a hand job and I blew him!" Kurt yelled. His eyes widened as he realized what he said, and he pushed his plate away. He slumped over in his chair, his head resting on the table.

"Wait, who blew who?"

"I-"

Kurt's face was beet red as the table fell silent. He lifted his head up, to see that Brittany was still eating pancakes nonchalantly, Quinn was staring at her plate full of bacon, and Santana was picking bacon after bacon slice off Quinn's plate and eating them.

"Things just got really complicated," Quinn said, and Kurt groaned before laying his head back down onto the mahogany surface.

"Complicated doesn't even begin to cover this mess."

* * *

><p>Manny ended up paying the bill ('bro, you might want to start saving up more of your money considering recent events'), and led them all outside. The clouds had disappeared momentarily that morning, but the last of the straggler rays of sunshine were beginning to die out, with snow predicted again that night.<p>

"You know, I am suddenly exhausted," Manny said out of the blue as they stood outside of the entrance to Denny's, Andy digging out a lighter from her back pocket.

"Did you even sleep?" Noah asked with a snort, and Manny shook his head.

"Nah, got home at like ten, and was still kinda drunk, so I spent an hour trying to remember how to operate the coffee maker," he admitted, shrugging. "I am so ready for a celebratory nap."

"You're such a baby," Andy mumbled out as she lit her cigarette, putting it to her lips and taking in a blast of nicotine before exhaling it back out and adding, "I haven't slept a damn bit since three days ago."

Noah frowned. "Let me guess. Your manuscript took on a life of it's own."

Andy nodded, not bothering to take the cigarette out of her mouth. She moved it up and down in her mouth, a nervous habit that both Puck and Manny recognized. Her eyes closed, her worry lines coming out.

"When'd you say Dubois was due back?" She breathed out, her cigarette tucked in the side of the lips (something she had perfected their sophomore year at OSU). Noah wrinkled his nose as a puff of smoke made his nose tickle.

"Saw her at Temple the last day of Hannukah. She looked a whole of a lo-" Noah started to say, before the implications of the situation became clear to him. "She looked a lot better."

Manny looked on as Noah and Andy looked at each other, a silent conversation happening between the two. The two had a long history behind them, like huge, so stuff like this was normal from them. But, he felt a bit more than annoyed because he was missing something huge.

"Ok, now that Dubois isn't kicking the buck- Not that she was to begin with," Manny said, adding in the last part when Puck glared at him. "But like, why is this important?"

Andy took the cigarette out of her mouth and lightly tapped on it with her index finger, a few embers drifting away with the wind.

"Dubois loves her job way too much to sit back for second semester, none the less third quarter, if she's perfectly capable of moving around and taking charge of her classes," Andy said, a tight smile that looked almost like a grimace appearing on her face. "You get three guesses."

Blinking, Manny ran a hand through his hair.

"Bro, you really might want to start saving big time if that's what I think it means," was all he said, and Noah couldn't agree more.

"This solves most of this then," Andy concluded, before looking at her cigarette and dropping it on the sidewalk. She crushed it with her foot, twisting it back and forth to make sure it was out for sure. "Manny, come on, I hear Danny got a whole new batch this morning."

"This is why we're going to get evicted," Manny fake weeped, and Andy rolled her eyes.

"You're going to get evicted because you come in banging through the halls at three in the morning on week nights like a lunatic, not because we're about to light up in your apartment," Andy argued, and Manny sniffed.

"I come banging through those hallways like a god damn deity, thank you very much," Manny said, puffing up his chest and standing up straight.

"Idiot," Andy sighed out, before reaching into her pocket. "Alright bitches, all of us put in twenty dollars. Should be enough for the good stuff."

"Andrea, if your mother heard you-" Manny began to laugh out, stopping when he saw the bitch look on Andy's face.

"Oh, darling, your mother has heard you," Andy snickered, remembering the time Manny got caught with weed in his room junior year.

"Don't remind me, she did a whole search of my room and found the booze we hid in my closet," Manny whined. "I'm just glad she didn't find the magazines you chucked under my bed back when you still thought you were straight."

"They were classy nude magazines for Art History, thank you very much." Andy stiffened, beginning to walk back towards her car.

"She says classy, I say raunchy as fuck," Manny mock whispered, ducking when Andy threw her near empty lighter at him.

"Keep talking shit, and she's going to kick you out," Noah said.

Manny grimaced. "I don't see why she can kick me out of my own apartment. I pay rent dammit, the colonial people of America did not fight against taxation without representation for this shit to occur."

"The colonial people would have screwed you over quick as hell and made you their slave," Andy said, taking the twenty dollars Noah had in hand, and rummaging through Manny's pockets for his twenty. She put the bills safely into her pocket, and nodded. "Right, I'm going to go get the shit. Meet back at your place in twenty."

Manny and Noah watched Andy get in her car, and quickly speed out of the Denny's parking lot. With a frown, Manny looked at Noah.

"You gonna tell 'em?" He said, bouncing on the heel of his feet.

"Tell who what," Noah said, the sentence coming out flat.

"That you're leaving," Manny said, ignoring the first half of the question. It could mean a lot of things. Noah telling his classes. Telling New Directions. But, it was the last one that both of them knew was weighing heavily in the air. Telling Kurt.

Puck began to walk towards his car, and Manny followed. It wasn't until they were both in the small car, the sound system playing the Florence + The Machine CD Andy had insisted on staying in the CD player until Noah knew all the lyrics, that he gave his answer.

"No."

_A/N: Annddddd- The penny drops. Bam. Is that even the right phrase. I. Ok I'm done. Expect to find out about college acceptance letters and to see New Directions again as a whole (God, there's so many of them, why did I do this to myself). Anyways, have fun on your spring break, or at school tomorrow. Remember, it's Friday and that's always a relief! Mk, done. See you guys on the flip side (I swear I'm not creepy or weird or anything). _


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